A Has-Been and a Never-Was?

The Onion A.V. Club features two surprisingly interesting interviews this week, with two very unlikely subjects: directors Uwe Boll and William Friedkin, neither of whom have gotten much love from the A.V. Club before.

Boll, the auteur responsible for unnecessary (and, in my opinion, unwatchable) big screen video game adaptations such as Bloodrayne, Alone in the Dark, and House of the Dead - as well as the upcoming Bloodrayne II and Alone in the Dark II - is perhaps best known for challenging his critics to a boxing match. But now he discusses his latest video game opus, Postal, and you know, it doesn't sound so bad. (Did I really just say that?)

Friedkin, on the other hand, began his career as an award-winning and highly respected  filmmaker after the success of The French Connection and The Exorcist. Thirty years later, it's widely believed he's only still working because he's married to a studio head, and even his highly anticipated, returning-to-his-roots adaptation of the stage thriller Bug fell a little flat. He talks with the Onion about his ups and downs, and the DVD release of his controversial Cruising.

The guys over at The Onion know their stuff, so I did a double take before realizing these stories weren't jokes from their front page. And just for fun, here's Uwe Boll fighting his critics in the ring:

-- Daniel Lehman