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April 04, 2007

[DOSSIER] Everybody's a critic: taking shots at Werner Herzog

Or, Werner Herzblog, as it seems on a range of sites this week, despite the postponement of MGM's release of Rescue Dawn, Herzog's fictional, Christian Bale-starring remake of his own doc, Little Dieter Wants to Fly. Last week, Indie linked to the Financial Times' interview with the director, in which he recounts getting shot during an interview with English writer Mark Kermode; here's the excerpt from Kermode's doc with the incident in question. (The entry also links to Herzogbeard.jpgscreenwriter Alan Greenberg's screenplay for an upcoming project of Herzog's, "The Cheese and The Worms" (Greenberg's Robert Johnson biopic, "Love in Vain," never made, was championed years ago by Herzog; the published version is worth the updig.) David Poland, at Hot Blog, reprints Herzog's lightly likeable, 12-point "Minnesota Declaration", from 1999: "There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization." The "only authentic and official website of Werner Herzog" is here, and among its many resources is a vast library of stills from Herzog's immense filmography (click the camera icon on the toolbar). More: a 12-page chapter from Herzog's book, "Walking in Ice" [downloadable PDF] and Tim Bissell's fine, 15-page December 2006 Harper's profile of Herzog, "The Secret Mainstream" [downloadable PDF]. And: a few key examples of Herzog's history of on-set "suffering and anguish" [downloadable PDF]. Plus: Ernst Reijseger's long-player, "Requiem for a Dying Planet," with intensely eclectic music drawn from Herzog's The Wild Blue Yonder and The White Diamond with RealAudio streaming links of all the tracks. AND ALSO: Jamie Stuart wrassles with Herzog when Grizzly Man opened. Below: a clip from Les Blank's Burden of Dreams, in which Herzog expatiates on the "obscenity" of the jungle; Blank's 1980 Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (20 minutes) about an ostensible bet with Errol Morris [see comment below]; Herzog's 13-minute, 1968 short, Last Words (Letzte Worte) in its entirety; the trailer for Rescue Dawn; Henry Rollins' recent, earnest eight-minute interview with Herzog from his IFC show; Harmony Korine on his mentor and collaborator; and footage of Klaus Kinski on the set of Nosferatu.


On the obscenity of the jungle
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe



Last Words

Rescue Dawn

"The Henry Rollins Show"
Harmony Korine
Klaus Kinski on the set of Nosferatu

Posted by Ray Pride at April 4, 2007 03:58 PM

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Comments

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe isn't an Errol Morris film, it's a short directed by Les Blank. The premise was that Werner bet Errol that if he ever finished "Gates of Heaven" he would eat his shoe. Errol doesn't remember him saying this, and in any case, Errol was once quoted as saying something like, "I didn't realize myself as an artist in order to make Werner Herzog eat something distasteful." [Edited above.]

Posted by: Reid Rosefelt [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 10, 2007 08:46 AM

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