
Inside the Mind of Werner Herzog, Luddite Master of the Internet - MrsPeaches
http://www.wired.com/2016/07/warner-herzog-lo-and-behold/
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ctrijueque
He was a guest in this monday WTF Podcast:

"...With a new documentary about the internet on his mind, the legendary
filmmaker talks with Marc about the achievements and follies of humanity. ..."

[http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-733-werner-herzog-
godf...](http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-733-werner-herzog-godfrey)

And his book _A Guide for the Perplexed_ worth a read.

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merkleme
Cant help but feel that Herzog is going out of his comfort zone with 'Lo and
Behold'. For me, he is at his best when looking at nature and in particularly
Human Nature. His documentary Grizzly which the article mentions ends with his
voice over “I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I can see only
the overwhelming indifference of nature”, highlights his pursuit for
understanding of why we do what we do. This is not to say that I wont watch
Lo,I'm sure he'll discover the humanity of our technology.

~~~
l33tbro
While his grandstanding and self-mythologising have ticked me off for years,
I'm also pretty interested to see his take on this subject.

~~~
lobster_johnson
Is there much grandstanding and self-mythologizing? He has opinions, like
every artist. If you think he has built a mythology around himself, read
"Herzog on Herzog", part of Farrar, Straus and Giroux's great series of
interviews with directors. He is very open about his development as a
filmmaker, and really about everything. The stories he tells about his
filmmaking experiences -- his many fights with Kinski, for example -- may be
colourful, but I have not seen any evidence that he has invented any of them.
Personally, I find Herzog's perspective refreshingly and uniquely unromantic.

~~~
leephillips
I can't get past the "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" episode. This
was Herzog's "re-imagining" of the great film by Abel Ferrara. Ferrara was
infuriated, as he had not authorized a remake and was paid a token amount for
rights. The kicker: in interviews, Herzog claimed, bizarrely, not only to have
not seen the original, but never even to have heard of Ferrara. I realize that
many people greatly admire Herzog's work, but there is clearly something wrong
with him.

~~~
lobster_johnson
This again. It comes up now and then.

Herzog's film is not a "re-imagining", nor a remake. It has literally
_nothing_ to do with Ferrara's film other than the title; it's an original
script and an original story. Herzog didn't even want to use the title, but
the studio or the producer (Edward R. Pressman, who produced Ferrara's film)
vetoed the decision.

I don't know why you think Herzog somehow owes Ferrara anything. The
controversy, such as it was, came from Ferrara, who complained to the press
without having seen the film other than being told there was a remake being
made. He didn't check his facts before making false accusations.

~~~
leephillips
Your claim is that two films with the same title, very similar plots, and the
same producer have "literally _nothing_ to do" with each other.

I don't know if Herzog "owes" Ferrara anything, but somebody thought so,
because Ferrara was paid (just not much). Why would he be paid at all if the
two films have "literally _nothing_ to do" with each other?

What "facts" would Ferrara have to check before deciding to be pissed off
about this? What are these supposed "false accusations"?

I'm willing to believe that the two films are artistically quite dissimilar,
but everything in my comment is true regardless.

~~~
lobster_johnson
The accusation was that Ferrara was not paid enough for the rights to
something that wasn't even adapted. They took his title, nothing else.
Ferrara, however, assumed they were remaking his film, which was not the case,
so his public comments were out of line. (Also: If Ferrara did not want to
sell the rights, he shouldn't have sold them. I don't know what he was paid
for, in truth.)

What exactly is "wrong with" Herzog? That was your assertion. It's a pretty
bold statement. Herzog made an original film which has nothing to do with
Ferrara's. It's not up to him to make things right -- whatever those things
are.

In short, what is your exact complaint here?

~~~
leephillips
I've read a handful of accounts of this episode, and my impression is that
Ferrara was blindsided and was not a party to the negotiations that led to him
being paid for rights - which, again, somebody, perhaps just lawyers, thought
was appropriate. He never agreed to the making of a movie using his title.

But you ask a fair question.

Do you really think it's credible that, after having finished this movie,
having worked with the producer of the original for over a year, that Herzog
had never heard of Ferrara? I can believe that he'd never seen the original
movie, but never heard the name of the filmmaker? Read the belittling language
Herzog chose to use in the interviews about the incident. Everybody lies. But
this lie was mean-sprited and spiteful. And that's what I think is wrong with
Herzog.

On the other hand, Ferrara did say he wanted Herzog to die in a fire. So there
is that.

~~~
lobster_johnson
Having read a bunch of Herzog's writings, I wouldn't surprised if he genuinely
wasn't aware of Ferrara. Herzog, as others have (Tarkovsky being a notable
example), has professed to not being that interested in other filmmakers.

Once Herzog was confronted with the "controversy", he was as magnanimous (not
belittling at all) as anyone could be about it, saying that he'd gladly meet
Ferrara over a beer and make up.

The point remains that Herzog's film has nothing to do with Ferrara's — the
whole debacle is just uninteresting, tiring politics. I don't know why you
bother mentioning it.

~~~
leephillips
Whiskey, not beer. In the interviews, Herzog's lying is palpable. He protests
too much.

You're just going to have to accept the terrible fact that sometimes people
are in possession of the same facts as you but simply come to different
conclusions.

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advertising
Herzog has a masterclass for anyone interested in filmmaking and him.

~~~
gregsadetsky
Indeed!

[https://www.masterclass.com/classes/werner-herzog-teaches-
fi...](https://www.masterclass.com/classes/werner-herzog-teaches-filmmaking)

There's also his "Rogue Film School", but no news so far as to 2017 dates:

[http://www.roguefilmschool.com](http://www.roguefilmschool.com)

