Werner Herzog

Overview

Born
September 5, 1942 · Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Birth name
Werner H. Stipetic
Height
6′ (1.83 m)

Biography

Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films.
- IMDb mini biography by: Oliver Heidelbach

Family

Spouses
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

His films contain animals doing unusual things
His films contain long, extended landscape shots
Frequently worked with Klaus Kinski
Screeching cellos and violins in musical scores
Driven protagonists who often seem to be on the brink of madness

Trivia

Joaquin Phoenix was in a car accident on a winding canyon road where his vehicle flipped over. Shaken and confused, he heard a tapping on his window and a voice said, "Just relax." Unable to see the man, Phoenix replied, "I'm fine. I am relaxed." When he managed to see the man, he realized it was Werner Herzog, who then replied, "No, you're not." After helping Phoenix out of the wreckage, Herzog phoned for an ambulance, then vanished.
In late 2005, during an interview with BBC film critic Mark Kermode regarding Grizzly Man (2005), a sniper opened fire on them with an air rifle. Kermode panicked when Herzog calmly said, "Someone is shooting at us." One of the pellets then hit Herzog. An unmoved Herzog said that the bullet was 'not a significant one' and insisted on continuing the interview.
Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if a young American film student went out and actually made the film he was always only talking about. The young student was Errol Morris, who met the challenge with his off-beat 1978 pet cemetery documentary Gates of Heaven (1978) (and went on to make The Thin Blue Line (1988) and Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)). Herzog makes good on his promise in the film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), directed by Les Blank.
Was scheduled to fly on the same ill-fated plane as fellow German teenager Juliane Koepcke in 1971, but was bumped from the flight at the last minute. On Christmas Eve, the plane crashed in the Amazon jungle, and 17-year-old Juliane was the only survivor, after enduring 11 days alone. Her tale was told in 1974's Miracles Still Happen (1974).
The only feature film director to have made a film on every continent.

Quotes

TV uses landscapes. I transform landscapes - I direct landscapes.
[on the ending of Stroszek (1977)] When I saw the dancing chicken, I knew I would create a grand metaphor - for what, I don't know.
[on working with Klaus Kinski] I had to domesticate the wild beast.
Perhaps I seek certain utopian things, space for human honour and respect, landscapes not yet offended, planets that do not exist yet, dreamed landscapes. Very few people seek these images today.
So, you have to be daring to do things like this, because the world is not easily accepting of filmmaking. There will always be some sort of an obstacle, and the worst of all obstacles is the spirit of bureaucracy. You have to find your way to battle bureaucracy. You have to outsmart it, to outgut it, to outnumber it, to outfilm them - that's what you have to do.