by Paul Cronin
Truman Anderson for his perceptive comments; Ian Bahrami for his patience and diligence; Ramin Bahrani; John Bailey; Jeremy Belinfante; Joe Bini; Ryan Bojanovic; Michael Chaiken, for being such a discerning sceptic; Michel Ciment; Jem Cohen; the Cronins of NW5 and N19; Victoria Dailey; Roger Diehl; Sam Di Iorio for those nuances; Walter Donohue at Faber and Faber for his unstinting faith; Graham Dorrington for opening up that one particular story; Sarah Ereira; Snorre Fredlund for his Nordic sensibility; Todd Gitlin; Herb Golder for helping me reach a deeper understanding; Alan Greenberg; Ulli Gruber for her enthusiasm; Marie-Antoinette Guillochon and Remi Guillochon for translation assistance; Simon Hacker; Lena Herzog for her hospitality and images; Rudolph Herzog for those arcane details; Paul Holdengräber for being so good at doing it in public; Gus Holwerda; Neil Hornick; the late David Horrocks; Christoph Huber; Ricky Jay; Harmony Korine for those addled evenings spent at his grandma’s house in Queens; Daniel Kothenschulte; Lawrence Krauss; Bruce “Pacho” Lane; David LaRocca for his insights; Martina Lauster for her graciousness and excellence as a translator; Tom Luddy; Grazia Paganelli; Presley Parks for always being around; Zak Penn; Doris Perlman for her sharp eye and knowledge of opera; Rory Pfotenhauer; Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen for their unrelenting spirit; Alexandra Proulx; Denis Reichle for his sense of history; Blanche and Bruce Rubin for their long-standing Northridge hospitality; Volker Schlöndorff; John Sorensen for his way of seeing; Lucki Stipetić for being such a benevolent custodian; Ted Sweetser; Gabrielle Tenzer for allowing all those stacks of books; Justin Van Voorhis; Chris Wahl; Damon Wise; and – at the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin – Julia Pattis, Julia Reidel, Sandra Schieke and Werner Sudendorf.
Thanks to those interviewers who don’t sell their work as being “in depth,” who never describe a published piece as being “edited and condensed,” and are steadfast about conducting Q&As rather than “masterclasses.” Also to a number of Roguistas whose names I have long forgotten and with whom over the years I discussed – often saturated with alcohol, sitting in a hotel bar, into the early hours – the preceding day’s events. If even a single one of them decides to break out, to wander the desert with a handful of carefully chosen books, to bask in the solitude, as they smile at the infinite delight and mystery of it all, everything will have been worthwhile. Sometimes it’s best not to live quite so relentlessly in the real world. Wrote Emerson: “A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.”
About the Author
Werner Herzog has directed more than sixty films, notably Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, Fitzcarraldo, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. He is the author of several books, including Conquest of the Useless, and has staged more than a dozen operas around the world.
Paul Cronin is the editor of Alexander Mackendrick’s On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director and Lessons with Kiarostami. He has made films about Amos Vogel, Peter Whitehead and Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool. His website is www.herzogperplexed.com.
By the Same Author
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ALTMAN ON ALTMAN edited by David Thompson
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NICK BROOMFIELD by Jason Wood
BURTON ON BURTON edited by Mark Salisbury
CASSAVETES ON CASSAVETES edited by Ray Carney
ALAN CLARKE by Richard T. Kelly
CRONENBERG ON CRONENBERG edited by Chris Rodley
DE TOTH ON DE TOTH edited by Anthony Slide
FELLINI ON FELLINI edited by Costanzo Costantini
GILLIAM ON GILLIAM edited by Ian Christie
HITCHCOCK ON HITCHCOCK edited by Sidney Gottlieb
KIEŚLOWSKI ON KIEŚLOWSKI edited by Danusia Stok
SPIKE LEE: THAT’S MY STORY AND I’M STICKING TO IT by Kaleem Aftab
MIKE LEIGH ON MIKE LEIGH edited by Amy Raphael
LEVINSON ON LEVINSON edited by David Thompson
LOACH ON LOACH edited by Graham Fuller
LYNCH ON LYNCH edited by Chris Rodley
MALLE ON MALLE edited by Philip French
MINGHELLA ON MINGHELLA edited by Timothy Bricknell
POTTER ON POTTER edited by Graham Fuller
SAYLES ON SAYLES edited by Gavin Smith
SCHRADER ON SCHRADER edited by Kevin Jackson
SCORSESE ON SCORSESE edited by David Thompson and Ian Christie
SIRK ON SIRK conversations with Jon Halliday
TRIER ON VON TRIER edited by Stig Björkman
Copyright
First published as Herzog on Herzog in 2002
This substantially revised and updated edition first published in 2014
by Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
All rights reserved
© Werner Herzog, 2014
Commentary and “Visionary Vehemence” © Paul Cronin, 2014
Foreword © Harmony Korine, 2014
“Shooting on the Lam” © Herbert Golder, 2014
Afterword © Lawrence Krauss, 2014
All photos © Werner Herzog Filmproduktion courtesy of the Deutsche Kinemathek, except: page 8 (bottom image) © Alan Greenberg; page 15 © Helaine Messer; page 21 © Estate of Amos Vogel; pages 28, 29, top of 30 and 32 © Lena Herzog
Cover image © Lena Herzog
The rights of Werner Herzog and Paul Cronin to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–25978–6