Meeting Werner Herzog

Essential Filmography

Fiction Features • Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
• Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
• Fitzcarraldo (1982)
• Rescue Dawn (2006)

Landmark Documentaries • Lessons of Darkness (1992)
• Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
• Grizzly Man (2005)
• Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

🎬 The Herzog Filmography

• A Camera with a "Natural Right": Herzog shot his first several films, including the masterpiece Aguirre, the Wrath of God, using a 35mm camera he stole from the Munich Film School.
• The 300-Ton Ship: For Fitzcarraldo, he famously refused to use miniatures or special effects. Instead, he forced his crew to pull a real, 300-ton steamship over a mountain in the Amazon.
• Mass Hypnosis: For his 1976 film Heart of Glass, Herzog had a professional hypnotist put almost the entire cast under a trance before every scene to achieve a specific, "otherworldly" performance style.
• Seven Continents: He is the only feature film director to have shot a movie on every single continent, completing the set with the Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the World.
• The No-Storyboard Rule: Herzog famously despises storyboards and never uses them, preferring to keep the production spontaneous and reactive to the environment.
• Volcanic Stakes: To film the documentary La Soufrière, Herzog and two cameramen stayed on a Caribbean island that was being evacuated due to an imminent, catastrophic volcanic eruption just to interview one man who refused to leave.
• Speed Writing: He typically writes his screenplays in an incredibly short burst of just 4 to 5 days, relying on a "sense of urgency" to dictate the story's direction.

"Facts create norms, but they do not create an illumination."

Herzog's work is characterized by "Ecstatic Truth"—the search for a deeper, poetic reality beyond mere facts.

🎥 The "Ecstatic Truth" of Werner Herzog

• The Stolen Camera: Herzog famously stole his first 35mm camera from the Munich Film School. He didn't consider it theft, but a "natural right" to a tool he needed to breathe life into his art.
• Shoe for Dinner: After losing a bet to fellow director Errol Morris, Herzog publicly cooked and ate his own shoe at a film premiere—an event captured in the documentary Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
• Unstoppable Interview: While being interviewed by the BBC in a park, Herzog was shot in the abdomen with an air rifle. He calmly looked at the wound and insisted on finishing the interview, famously stating, "It's not significant".
• Action Hero: In 2006, he happened upon Joaquin Phoenix after a car crash in Hollywood. Herzog helped Phoenix out of the wreckage and prevented him from lighting a cigarette while gasoline was leaking from the car.
• The Great Walk: When his mentor Lotte Eisner fell ill, Herzog believed she would survive if he walked from Munich to Paris to see her. He made the 500-mile journey on foot in winter; she lived for eight more years.
• Global Vision: He is the only feature film director to have shot a film on all seven continents, including Antarctica for Encounters at the End of the World.
• "Star Wars" Outsider: Despite playing the menacing "Client" in The Mandalorian, Herzog admitted he had never actually seen a Star Wars film before joining the cast.

"Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness."

Memorable Insights

• On Nature: "The birds don't sing, they shriek in pain."
• On Filmmaking: It is not about the camera; it is about the "Ecstatic Truth."
• The Presence: A man who looks at the world with a "frozen stare" of curiosity.

Archive Reflection (2006)

So I met Werner Herzog today.

No big deal...... just probably one of the 50 greatest directors of all time......actually #35 according to Entertainment Weekly........no biggie.

Yeah Right.

He was over at the Barnes and Noble at the Grove doing a signing to promote his movie Grizzly Man . It happened completely by chance though, we were at the Grove celebrating my wife's Birthday, we put a reservation in at the cheesecake Factory and decided to stretch our legs a bit. As we walked by I saw a little sign in the store promoting the event, at first I didn't pay it any mind because I figured, with my luck, it wasn't going to be for today, and this was my last day off this week. Erin saw the look of disappointment on my face and asked what was wrong. I informed her that Herzog was going to do a signing here and that I'd probably miss it. She looked at the sign and informed me that it was actually for today. I still didn't get too excited cause I figured the thing starts in 15 minutes and there's probably a huge line. I went up to take a look and I was shocked to find a line of about 30 people.

30 friggin people for Werner Herzog!!!

I almost leaped down to the first floor wanting to buy a copy of Grizzly Man. A part of me was bummed cause if I'd known about the event I would have loved to have him sign my copy of Nosferatu. When I got to the register I saw they had a copy of Fitzcarraldo next to the pile of Grizzly Man dvd's. I asked them if he was only going to sign Grizzly Man and they informed me that he would sign anything.

As much as I liked Grizzly Man, there was no WAY I was going to pass up the opportunity for him to sign Fitzcarraldo.

I forked over the 34 dollars it cost to purchase the DVD. I knew the store was ripping me off but hell, I got caught up in the moment.

My wife, God bless her, was all excited for me. She knew I was a big fan of Herzog. We actually spent a whole day in bed once watching a festival of his movies playing on IFC. They showed My Best Fiend, Fitzcarraldo, and both versions of Nosferatu. For months I would tease her, playfully nibbling on her neck proclaiming "I'm Nosferatu."

Let me just mention, I'm not really an autograph hound. I would never ask for an actor's autograph. But getting a director to sign a dvd is like getting an author to sign a book. I think it's pretty cool when you have a chance.

When I was in line I noticed he was having long conversations with people up there.

Long conversations... seriously about 5 minutes for some.

I'm usually pretty embarrassed when I ask people to sign stuff. I'm usually not really prepared to have a whole conversation with the person. I'd almost prefer that they sign in silence. I mean I've seen My Best Fiend and Burden of Dreams. I've listened to the commentary on Nosferatu. The guy isn't shy about the way he works when asked, there's not too much I don't know regarding his process.

I didn't want to appear like an autograph hound, and say nothing, at the same time, the line had started to grow behind me, and I didn't want to put him in an awkward position of carrying a long conversation.

So I figured I'd mention his movie Rescue Dawn , which is a movie trailer I featured in my last post.

Here's our conversation word for word......from what I can remember.

He gives me a big smile as I walk up, extending his hand.

Ray: Nice to meet you sir. It's a real honor.

W. H. (with his accent) Thank you. Nice to meet you too. (While shaking my hand.) What do you have for me? (He sees the DVD cover.) Ahh Fitzcarraldo.

Ray: Yes, great movie, one of my favorites.

(He examines the cover.)

Ray: I'm really looking forward to Rescue Dawn.

(He gives me a genuine look of surprise.)

W.H. Yes I've just started to edit it.....today actually. I had a little trouble...not enough money...the finances weren't all there...so I had to wait. But it's fine now. I'm really excited though. It's going to be really intense. Really, really intense.

Ray: Wow, I look forward to seeing it. I was wondering....were you worried about Christian losing all that weight again.

W.H. He didn't lose that much weight. (Completely straight)

Ray: Really?

W.H. Only 55 pounds.

(I laugh.)

W.H. Actually I....... lost 30 pounds during the movie.

Ray: REALLY? Wow.

W.H. Yeah I figured it would look wrong if I made the actors starve themselves, and I didn't look bad too.

(I laughed again. As he signed my Dvd cover)

Ray: Thank you

W.H. Thank YOU very much. Nice to meet you.

He signed my dvd cover.

To Ray,

Best Wishes

Werner Herzog

Really nice guy. I'm so happy to have met him. He was so friendly to everyone too. Allowed people to take pictures, he signed everything people brought.

It was a lot of fun, I feel really lucky to have met him.