The Business
The Fearless Filmmaker, Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog on his fascination with death row, his stop-at-nothing-approach to filmmaking, his "vile and debased" persona and the challenge of eating his own shoe.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenThis week, we sit down with filmmaker Werner Herzog. We cover a fair amount of ground in our dense conversation with him, including his fascination with death row and his latest movie, Into The Abyss, a documentary about a triple homicide and the man sentenced to die for his role in it. Herzog also describes his Rogue Film School where he teaches his students to, among other things, forge film permits in the hopes of inspiring them to adopt his stop-at-nothing approach to filmmaking. Plus, he reflects on his unique ability to play villains in movies, which he'll do opposite Tom Cruise in the film One Shot. Herzog says that he can really be "vile and debased" on screen despite the fact that in real life he's a "fluffy husband." Herzog also recounts the story of him literally eating his shoe in 1979. It was an event sparked by a challenge he gave the then-untested filmmaker Errol Morris, which was documented in the short film by Les Blank, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. Incidentally Herzog will be giving the Career Achievement Award to Blank at the International Documentary Association Awards (IDA) in December.
Today's Banter Topics:
- James Cameron's 3D conversion of Titanic
- The struggles of NBC to get a hit
- The ironic economics of the Occupy Wall St. movement buying Guy Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta
