Werner Herzog

[DarkImbecile]

Werner Herzog (1942 - )



"You should look straight at a film; that's the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates."

Filmography

Features (* = Documentary)
Signs of Life (1968)
The Flying Doctors of East Africa* (1969)
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
Handicapped Future* (1971)
Land of Silence and Darkness* (1971)
Fata Morgana* (1971)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner* (1974)
Heart of Glass (1976)
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck* (1976)
Stroszek (1977)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Woyzeck (1979)
Huie's Sermon* (1981)
God's Angry Man* (1981)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)
Ballad of the Little Soldier* (1984)
The Dark Glow of the Mountains* (1984)
Cobra Verde (1987)
Herdsmen of the Sun* (1989)
Echoes from a Sombre Empire* (1990)
Jag Mandir* (1991)
Scream of Stone (1991)
Lessons of Darkness* (1992)
Bells from the Deep* (1993)
The Transformation of the World into Music* (1994)
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices* (1995)
Little Dieter Needs to Fly* (1997)
Wings of Hope* (1998)
My Best Friend* (1999)
Invincible (2001)
Wheel of Time* (2003)
The White Diamond* (2004)
The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)
Grizzly Man* (2005)
Rescue Dawn (2006)
Encounters at the End of the World* (2007)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams* (2010)
Happy people: A Year in the Taiga* (2010)
Into the Abyss* (2011)
Queen of the Desert (2015)
Salt and Fire (2016)
Lo & Behold: Reveries of the Connected World* (2016)
Into the Inferno* (2016)
Meeting Gorbachev (2019)

Shorts (* = Documentary short)
"Herakles" (1962)
"Game in the Sand" (1964)
"The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz" (1966)
"Last Words" (1968)
"Precautions Against Fanatics" (1969)
"No One Will Play With Me" (1976)
"La Soufrière"* (1977)
"Portrait Werner Herzog"* (1986)
"Les Gaulois" (1988)
"Christ and Demons in New Spain"* (1999)
"Pilgrimage"* (2001)
Ten Thousand Years Older"* (2002)
"La Bohème"* (2009)
"Ode to the Dawn of Man"* (2011)
"From One Second to the Next"* (2013)

Books
Werner Herzog, Peter Berling and Herbert Achternbusch (2003)
The Cinema of Werner Herzog: Aesthetic Ecstasy and Truth, Brad Prager (2007)
Ferocious Reality: Documentary According to Werner Herzog, Eric Ames (2012)
A Companion to Wener Herzog, Brad Prager (2012)
Werner Herzog: interviews, Eric Ames (2014)
The Films of Werner Herzog: Between Mirage and History, Timothy Corrigan (2016)
Herzog by Ebert, Roger Ebert (2017)

By Herzog
Fitzcarraldo: The Original Story (1983)
Pilgrims: Becoming the Path Itself, with Lena Herzog (2002)
Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo (2004)
Of Walking in Ice (2007)
Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed, Conversations with Paul Cronin (2014)

Web Resources
Werner Herzog Official Site
2005 interview with Roger Ebert at Overlooked Film Festival
2005 audio interview with Dave Davies, Fresh Air (NPR)
"The Ecstatic Truth", 2006 profile by Daniel Zalewski, The New Yorker
"The Secret Mainstream: Contemplating the Mirages of Werner Herzog", by Tom Bissell, Harper's (2006)
"Antiphusis: Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man", by Benjamin Noys, Film-Philosophy (2006)
2007 conversation with Errol Morris at Brandeis University, The Believer
2007 audio interview with Terry Gross, Fresh Air (NPR)
2009 interview with Mark Kermode, The Guardian
2010 roundtable with Metthew Belloni, Stephen Galloway, Darren Aronofsky, Oren Peli, Catherine Keener, Melissa Leo, and Sam Rockwell, The Hollywood Reporter
2011 audio conversation with Lawrence Krauss and Cormac McCarthy
2011 profile by Chris Heath in GQ
2011 interview with Chris Kompanek, The AV Club
2016 profile by Jason Tanz, Wired
2016 Reddit Ask me Anything
2019 interview with Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire

Forum Discussion
Werner Herzog on DVD
Werner Herzog Collection (BFI)
Shout! Factory: Herzog: Collection
Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)
The Wild Blue Yonder (Herzog, 2005)
Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog, 2006)
Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog, 2008)
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Herzog, 2009)
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog, 2010)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010)
Death Row / Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog, 2011/12)

[Martha]

Herzog gives great commentary

Amen to that. I love to listen to Werner Herzog talk. Perhaps audiologists can run tests to determine the euphoric qualities of his vocal patterns. He has a very soothing and reassuring voice, even when he's talking about risking life and limb for a shot, working under pressure with Kinski or being held for days by suspicious desert authorities. If I could ask anyone to record my outgoing voice mail message, it'd be him.

God, I totally agree-- something about his voice is incredibly soothing, and you're instantly both relaxed and utterly transfixed. I'll never forget walking into Kim's Video Underground in NYC and stopping in my tracks because of the voice I heard. They were showing a crummy video dub of Lessons of Darkness (this was pre-Anchor Bay DVDs) and, though I had no idea what it was, I knew I was listening to Herzog.

[duane hall]

i get immense enjoyment impersonating Herzog. especially after hearing him say "completely bonkers" (pronounced "BOAN-kurz") on, i think, one of his commentary tracks. it's now become an essential part of my vernacular. i just wouldn't feel complete without my ability to say that.

and i should be getting Burden of Dreams from greencine tomorrow. i'll report back.

[Gordon]

Damn, what commentary is it that he says, "completely bonkers", again?! Brilliant.

I love his "Kinksi was a pestilence", on, is it the Aguirre commentary?

Kinski's, wish that "Huge red ants should piss into his [Herzog's] lying eyes, gobble up his balls, penetrate his asshole and eat his guts!" in the hilariously absurd, beautiful, bullshot-fest, Kinski Uncut also brings me great pleasure as a retort to my boss when he pisses me off!

Yes, great voice. A considerable distance from Orson Welles, but still up there with the greats. James Coburn's voice is also very underrated. And Sam Elliot's.

[King of Kong]

I especially enjoy the beginning of Herzog's commentary for Aguirre.

WERNER HERZOG: Eet was a fubrication, a monk existed with this name - but a toadally deeferent expedition. Zo, historians always ahsk me, 'where deed you get these dok-yu-mehnts?'

NORMAN HILL: (timidly) heh heh heh.

And of course, all those Herogian tall-tales.

[oldsheperd]

Don't forget that every Herzog commentary has him saying, "He is my friend, I Love Him."

[Eric]

I love to listen to Werner Herzog talk. Perhaps audiologists can run tests to determine the euphoric qualities of his vocal patterns.

Him, Yuri Tsivian and Bob Ross.

[exte]

Well I mentioned it in another thread, maybe the commentary thread, where he says "that was a good tossss" in the Fitzcarraldo commentary. He's hilarious. No wonder Harmony Korine used him in Julien Donkey-Boy. "Tell your sister she's a dilettante and a slut!" "Be a vinnner!" "You're so stupid. If I was as stupid as you, I would slap my own face." LMFAO!

How many languages does he know? He surprised me by how fluent he was in Spanish in Burden of Dreams.

[jesus the mexican boi]

Well I mentioned it in another thread, maybe the commentary thread, where he says "that was a good tossss" in the Fitzcarraldo commentary. He's hilarious. No wonder Harmony Korine used him in Julien Donkey-Boy. "Tell your sister she's a dilettante and a slut!" "Be a vinnner!" "You're so stupid. If I was as stupid as you, I would slap my own face." LMFAO!

How many languages does he know? He surprised me by how fluent he was in Spanish in Burden of Dreams.

That does it. Let's all sign a petition to him to put out an audiobook. Here are some suggestions:

"Werner Herzog Reads Stories for Children"
"Werner Herzog Reads The Bible"
"Werner Herzog Reads The Popol Vuh"
"Werner Herzog Reads Your Novel for a Fee"

[oldsheperd]

That would be kind of cool. You could have him read the Popol Vuh while listening to Popol Vuh.

[Costas]

I'm fully in agreement with those who are mesmerised by the wonderful thing that is Werner Herzog's voice. With certain words he reminds me of both John Cale and Nick Cave (the latter's manner of saying 'hand' is cut from the same stone). He steals the show in 'Julien Donkey Boy' ("That didn't hit right" and "Do I feel lucky?" as well as every single word he utters in the film - exte has mentioned most of the best ones already) but his commentaries are among the most interesting and entertaining ways to spend a couple of hours. His own English dub of 'My Best Fiend' is great also.

I've heard all his Anchor Bay commentaries, the most recent being Stroszek. It gave me two laugh out loud moments: at the start, when Normal Hill is doing his usual introduction, Herzog sorta interrupts him with "Yes, I like it when we do that - let's get straight into it". His use of "that" instead of "this" and his pronunciation of same is a great example of why I love him so much.

The second one is in the lead up to the closing scene (those that have seen the film will know exactly what part I'm talking about) - Herzog declares that he's going to shut up now, because the scene is so good there's nothing he can say that can do it any justice.

I can't think of any other filmmaker alive who I'd rather spend an evening in the pub with. Cinema is probably the last thing you'd talk about with him! That said, if I ever got the chance, I'd have to curb the impressions of him.

[Arcadean]

I love listening to Herzog talk. I wish he did the news around here because I think I could take it better that way. I usually just listen to about 10-15 minutes of commentary when I rent a movie from Netflix but on the Aguirre CD I listened to the commentary the whole way through without even a thought of stopping it. I did this with other Herzog films also.

[duane hall]

after watching Burden of Dreams last night i must say his voice has become more and more blissful with age. he had all the same wonderful vocal elements back then, but now his voice has settled and softened into perfection.

[exte]

I can't believe there's a thread this long about the sound of a director's voice!! You'd think an actor would come before this, but I gotta admit, he's the man.

[jesus the mexican boi]

I can't believe there's a thread this long about the sound of a director's voice!! You'd think an actor would come before this, but I gotta admit, he's the man.

Is there anyone out there with the capability/inclination to make .wav or MP3 files of WH's choicest quotations? Anything from "Julien Donkey-Boy" would be swell, and the lines that open "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," damning television, are eerily prescient. Of course, if someone could score "completely BOAN-kers" that would, like, totally rock.

I may have mentioned this before, but there's a great story from Herzog's wife Lena about being surprised at how well-known Herzog was in the U.S. They were living in California and were going to be moving. She called up some movers who had a company like, "Starving Student Movers," or some such. She told them the name and the kid on the line was like, "THE Werner Herzog?" And she said, "That depends on what you mean by 'THE' Werner Herzog." And the kid on the other end said, "The one who made Fitzcarraldo?" And she said, "Yes." The kid was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are we going to have to move a boat?"

Herzog didn't think it was funny.

[exte]

Easily the best story I heard all day.

I once saw this thing with a panel of directors talking about something, and Brett Ratner and Werner Herzog were not only on the same stage, but they sat near each other. I thought it was pretty disrespectful for a guy like Werner, and all the intelligence that goes with him, to stick him with a guy like Ratner. Call me prejudice, and I DO like Ratner, but fuck that. Herzog is one of the best living directors around, so please, stick him with the likes of Gilliam, Scorsese and such... not the Rush Hour guy....

[Michael Kerpan]

Herzog didn't think it was funny.

I wonder. Even if he DID think it was funny, he would think the story was funnier to others if he was depicted as unamused.

I too fell under the spell of Herzog's voice, from the time I heard his first commentary track.

I hope his "Bells from the Deep" appears on DVD -- it should be bettrer known. (I ordered this on video from the Herzog website -- which did have a PAL version (with English narration).

[jesus the mexican boi]

I hope his "Bells from the Deep" appears on DVD -- it should be bettrer known. (I ordered this on video from the Herzog website -- which did have a PAL version (with English narration).

After watching BURDEN OF DREAMS and it's great selection of supplements over the last couple of nights, I'm curious as to what people think should be Herzog's true induction into Criterion's catalog (since this counts as a sort-of back-door entry). Certainly, Anchor Bay has done well by him, with their two boxsets, highlighting the best films in his canon. But are there others? Ebayers occasionally list boots of the earlier docs (I have a couple on DVD and VHS). Perhaps Criterion could issue a BY BRAKHAGE-like compendium of the shorts. I'd certainly like to see some of his well-regarded recent films get atttention, i.e, THE WHITE DIAMOND and GRIZZLY MAN.

Any suggestions?

[J M Powell]

Land of Silence and Darkness, the best (and most famous) currently-unavailable feature-length Herzog docu.

[emcflat]

I just bought a bootleg of "God's Angry Man" off of ebay, and I love it. A lot of his TV Doc's are a little shorter, too (this one is about 45 mins) so you could get more than one on a disc. Not that it needs to be said but Herzog definitely has a fantastic voice/manner of speech. I put on "My Best Fiend" all the time before I go to sleep.

[duane hall]

emc, is the bootleg by 5 Minutes to Live?

greencine stocks 5 Minutes to Live copies of both God's Angry Man and Land of Silence and Darkness. i'll check those out as soon as they become available and report back.

[jesus the mexican boi]

Land of Silence and Darkness, the best (and most famous) currently-unavailable feature-length Herzog docu.

This may have been mentioned elsewhere, but New Yorker Video is releasing LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS and SIGNS OF LIFE on DVD on June 14. They're up for pre-order on Amazon. Both list for $29.95.

[J M Powell]

This may have been mentioned elsewhere, but New Yorker Video is releasing LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS and SIGNS OF LIFE on DVD on June 14. They're up for pre-order on Amazon. Both list for $29.95.

Great news! I hope New Yorker has cleaned up their act on transfers since the last disc of theirs I saw, though.

[emcflat]

emc, is the bootleg by 5 Minutes to Live?

Yeah, it is. definitely "bootleg" quality, but totally watchable.

[Martha]

Hey kids! Herzog's voice is going to be on Fresh Air today, talking about Grizzly Man.