Youtube

So, they shoot a video in German (which I assume was meant for American audiences) and then don't bother to subtitle it?

I'm not sure subtitles are really necessary, since they link to a translation right below the video.

Last night I saw Werner Herzog being interviewed at bfisouthbank after a screening of Encounters at the End of the World. The full text of the interview, as well as a video extract, will no doubt appear in due course on the guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank page on the Guardian website and so there is no need to set out much of what he said, but as a taster:

- when asked about Bad Lieutenant, he said he hasn’t seen the original and so his film is not in any way a remake; Nicolas Cage insisted he direct it (WH: “I took him to places I don’t think he’s been before.” Mark Kermode (the interviewer): “He’s been to many places!” WH: “I didn’t mean geographically.” MK: “Nor did I!”). Herzog described the film as a new form of film noir and summed up its subject matter as “the bliss of evil” (try to imagine that in Herzog’s accent).

- when asked whether any young filmmakers had impressed him, Herzog said he has been so busy with his own work that he can only remember having seen two films in the last two years. One was a Hollywood blockbuster, but he can’t remember what it was, only that he didn’t think it was very good. The other was The Real Cancun. I don’t usually go for strings of punctuation, but that’s got to deserve a !!!??!? He also didn’t think it was very good although he said it had a little bit of charm. He then picked out Where is My Friend’s House and Close-Up as two outstanding films everyone should leap at the chance to see.

- when asked what, other than filmmaking, gives him joy, he said “a good steak”.

Herzog was very funny, very serious (but still very funny when he was being very serious, sometimes edging to the verge of self parody), dignified, and taken aback almost to the point of embarrassment, I think, by the warmth of the reception he got from the capacity audience.

Here is that interview in its entirety.

It's a great interview. I'm glad that My son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? is moving along well.

For those of you in Washington, the Environmental Film Fest will be having a Herzog retrospective.

Dude, that was last weekend.

Udo Kier can now be confirmed, if he hasn't already, to have some sort of role in My Son.... A friend of mine was an extra in a scene between Chloe Sevigny. He says there was also a lot of friendly yelling between the two.

My latest conversation with Jason Bellamy is now online, and it is a lengthy discussion of Herzog, using an eclectic selection of his films to guide us.

Thanks again, Ed. Someone - anyone - needs to hire you as a film critic.

Thanks for that, too much to go through at the mo., but I've saved the link...looks fascinating.

There are variant cuts of Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

This is someone doing what becomes mostly an extended Burden of Dreams parody, but it's pretty funny and he nails Herzog's voice pretty well. Their Jarmusch is awful, though.

I can't believe there's a whole series of these skits. "Speed Dating With Werner" looks pretty good.

A great resource for Herzog study. This should technically go in the "Filmmaker" section but I couldn't find a dedicated thread for Herzog there (?) so I'm sticking it here.

A new interview. He seems surprisingly sweet hearted here especially with bits like this:

It's impossible to read something Herzog says without hearing his voice. Reading Conquest of the Useless was amazing.

Haha, Werner just encapsulated himself incredibly neatly. Is there a single one of his movies that title wouldn't fit?

"Great Moments in Werner Herzog Voiceovers".

Nice collection there. Also think that Justin Theroux's impersonation of Herzog on the Tropic Thunder documentary is one awesome piece of work.