Werner Herzog Biography
Summary
"Werner Herzog" (born "Werner H. Stipeti?"; 5 September 1942) is an Academy Award-nominated German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.
He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Wim Wenders and others. His films often feature heroes with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who find themselves in conflict with nature.
Life
Herzog was born "Werner Stipeti?" () in Munich. His family moved to the remote Bavarian village of Sachrang (nested in the Chiemgau Alps), after the house next to theirs was destroyed during the bombing at the close of World War II. When he was 12, he and his family moved back to Munich.
The same year, Herzog was told to sing in front of his class at school and he adamantly refused. He was almost expelled for this and until the age of 18 listened to no music, sang no songs and studied no instruments. He later said that he would easily give 10 years from his life to be able to play an instrument. At 14, he was inspired by an encyclopedia entry about film-making which he says provided him with 'everything I needed to get myself started' as a film-maker - that, and the 35 mm camera that the young Herzog stole from the Munich Film School. In the commentary for "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", he states, 'I don't consider it theft - it was just a necessity - I had some sort of natural right for a camera, a tool to work with.' He studied at the University of Munich despite earning a scholarship to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In the early 1960s, Herzog worked nightshifts as a welder in a steel factory to help fund his first films.
Herzog has been married three times and has three children. In 1967, he married Martje Grohmann, with whom he had a son in 1973, Rudolph Amos Achmed, who is now a film producer and director as well as the author of several non-fiction books. In 1980, his daughter, Hanna Mattes (now a photographer and an artist), was born to Eva Mattes. In 1987, Herzog married Christine Maria Ebenberger. Their son, Simon Herzog, who attends Columbia University, was born in 1989. In 1995 Herzog moved to the United States and in 1999, the director married photographer Lena Pisetski, now Lena Herzog. They live in Los Angeles.
In February 2006, during an outside BBC interview with movie journalist Mark Kermode, Herzog was shot with an air rifle by an unknown individual. Herzog continued the interview and showed his wound on camera but acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, remarking 'It is not a significant bullet.'
Career
Besides using movie stars, German, American and otherwise, Herzog is known for using people from the locality in which he is shooting. Especially in his documentaries, he uses locals to benefit his, as he calls it, 'ecstatic truth', using footage of them both playing parts and being themselves. Herzog and his films have won and been nominated for many awards. Herzog's first important award was Silver Bear for his first feature film "Signs of Life" ("Nosferatu the Vampyre" was also nominated for Golden Bear in 1979). Most notably, Herzog won the best director award for "Fitzcarraldo" at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. On the same Festival, but a few years earlier (in 1975) his movie "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" won The Special Jury Prize (also known as the 'Silver Palm'). Other films directed by Herzog nominated for Golden Palm are: "Woyzeck" and "Where the green ants dream". His films were also nominated at many other very important festivals all around the world: César Awards ("Aguirre, The Wrath of God"), Emmy Awards ("Little Dieter Needs to Fly"), European Film Awards ("My Best Fiend") and Venice Film Festival ("Scream of Stone" and "The Wild Blue Yonder").
In 1987 he and his half-brother Lucki Stipetic won the Bavarian Film Awards for Best Producing, for the film "Cobra Verde". In 2002 he won the "Dragon of Dragons Honorary Award" during Kraków Film Festival in Kraków.
Herzog was honored at the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival, receiving the 2006 Film Society Directing Award. Four of his films have been shown at the San Francisco International Film Festival: "Wodaabe - Herdsmen of the Sun" in 1990, "Bells from the Deep" in 1993, "Lessons of Darkness" in 1993, and "The Wild Blue Yonder" in 2006. Herzog's April 2007 appearance at the Ebertfest in Champaign, IL earned him the Golden Thumb Award, and an engraved glockenspiel given to him by a young film maker inspired by his films. "Grizzly Man", directed by Herzog, won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. "Encounters at the End of the World" won the award for Best Documentary at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature, Herzog's first nomination.
Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if Errol Morris completed the movie project on pet cemeteries that he had been working on, in order to challenge and motivate Morris, whom Herzog perceived as incapable of following up on the projects he conceived. In 1978 when the film "Gates of Heaven" premiered, Werner Herzog cooked and publicly ate his shoe, an event later incorporated into a short documentary "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" by Les Blank. At the event, Herzog suggested that he hoped the act would serve to encourage anyone having difficulty bringing a project to fruition.
Film theory
Herzog's films have received considerable critical acclaim and achieved popularity on the art house circuit. They have also been the subject of controversy in regard to their themes and messages, especially the circumstances surrounding their creation. A notable example is "Fitzcarraldo", in which the obsessiveness of the central character was mirrored by the director during the making of the film, as shown in "Burden of Dreams", a documentary filmed during the making of Fitzcarraldo. His treatment of subjects has been characterized as Wagnerian in its scope, as "Fitzcarraldo" and his later film "Invincible" (2001) are directly inspired by opera, or operatic themes. He is proud of never using storyboards and often improvising large parts of the script, as he explains on the commentary track to "Aguirre, The Wrath of God".
Collaborations
Cast
;Actors/Actress in a Leading Role:
Klaus Kinski: "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", "Nosferatu", "Woyzeck", "Fitzcarraldo", and "Cobra Verde". In 1999 Herzog directed and narrated the documentary film "My Best Fiend", a retrospective on his often rocky relationship with Kinski.
Bruno S. in "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" and "Stroszek"
Brad Dourif in "Scream of Stone", "The Wild Blue Yonder", "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" and also in filming "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done"
Josef Bierbichler in "Heart of Glass" and "Woyzeck"
Eva Mattes in "Woyzeck" and "Stroszek"
;Actors in a Supporting Role:
Clemens Scheitz in "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", "Heart of Glass", "Stroszek" and "Nosferatu the Vampyre"
José Lewgoy in "Fitzcarraldo" and "Cobra Verde"
Volker Prechtel in "Heart of Glass", "Woyzeck" and "Scream of Stone"
Peter Berling in "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and "Cobra Verde"
Crew
;With Thomas Mauch
Mauch worked with Herzog on ten films: starting with "Signs of Life" and "Last Words" and ending with "Fitzcarraldo". He helped to create hallucinogenic atmosphere in "Aguirre" and realistic style of "Stroszek". Mauch won Film Award in Gold and National Society of Film Critics Awards for "Aguirre". He was Herzog's first choise to be cinematographer during "Cobra Verde", but after a perpetual torrent of verbal abuse from Kinski, Mauch walked out on the project. That was the end of Mauch - Herzog collaborated.
;With Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Reitwein worked with Herzog on seventeen films. Reitwein was Thomas Mauch's assistant camera during "Even Dwarfs Started Small". His first independent work for Herzog was "Precautions Against Fanatics" in 1969. He helped to create poetical atmosphere of "Fata Morgana", "Heart of Glass", "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" and "Nosferatu". He won Film Award in Gold for "Heart of Glass" and "Where the green ants dream" during German Film Awards. He last collaborated wit Herzog during "Pilgrimage" in 2001.
;With Peter Zeitlinger
Zeitlinger collaborated with Herzog on eleven films, from "Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices" (1995) to "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" (2010), included "Rescue Dawn", "Grizzly Man" and "Encounters at the End of the World".
;With Henning von Gierke
Gierke collaborated with Herzog on seven films and several operas. He was Production Designer during "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", "Nosferatu the Vampyre" and "Fitzcarraldo". As a Set Decorator he worked on "Heart of Glass" and "Woyzeck", as Stage Designer on operas: "Lohengrin" and "Giovanna d'Arco" and as Costume Designer on film "The Transformation of the World Into Music". Gierke shot additional still photographs on "Stroszek" 's set. He appeared twice in Herzog's film "The Transformation of the World Into Music" as himself and in Herzog's TV realisation of opera "Giovanna d'Arco". Von Gierke won Film Award in Gold for "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" during German Film Awards and Silver Berlin Bear for "Nosferatu", during Berlin International Film Festival.
;With Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh was a German Krautrock band founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke. The band took its name from the Popol Vuh, a manuscript of Quiché Maya kingdom, after watching Herzog's "Fata Morgana" (in which Lotte Eisner read Popol Vuh's parts). The band composed music for eight Herzog's films: "Aguirre, the Wrath of God", "The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner", "Heart of Glass", "Nosferatu", "The Dark Glow of the Mountains", "Fitzcarraldo", "Cobra Verde" and "My Best Fiend". Theirs compositions was also used by Herzog in "Rescue Dawn". Florian Fricke made a cameo as a pianist in "Signs of Life" and "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser".
;With Walter Saxer
Saxer produced sixteen Herzog's films, including "Nosferatu" and "The White Diamond". He worked as Sound Department during seven Herzog's films, including "The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner" and "Echoes from a Somber Empire". He co - wrote "Scream of Stone" which Herzog directed. Saxer appeard as himself in Herzog's "My Best Feind" and in Les Blank's "Burden of Dreams", in which he was perpetual torrented of verbal abuse from Kinski.
;With Lucki Stipetic
Lucki is Herzog half-brother. He also produced several Herzog films, including "Aguirre" and "Invincible". Stipetic is a head of Werner Herzog Productions. He won Bavarian Film Award in 1988 for "Cobra Verde" and International Documentary Association Award for "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" in 1998. He was also nominated for Emmy Award in 1998.
;With Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus
Beate Mainka is film editor. She worked with Herzog on twenty films, since "Signs of Life" and "Last Words" (both from 1968) to "Where the Green Ants Dream" (1984).
;With Joe Bini
Bini is a film editor. He collaboreted with Herzog on eleven films, since "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" (1997) to "Bad Lieutenant" (2009).
;With Ann Poppel
Poppel is a costume designer. She collaborated with Herzog on four films, including "Nosferatu the Vampyre" and "Scream of Stone".
;With Gisela Storch
Storch is a costume designer. She with Herzog on six films: "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", "Heart of Glass", "Nosferatu the Vampyre", "Woyzeck", "Fitzcarraldo" and "Cobra Verde". She was nominated for Saturn Award for "Nosferatu the Vampire" in 1979.
Filmography
All films were directed and written (or co-written) by Werner Herzog:
Features
"Signs of Life" (1968)
"Even Dwarfs Started Small" (1970)
"Fata Morgana" (1971)
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972)
"The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" (1974)
"Heart of Glass" (1976)
"Stroszek" (1977)
"Nosferatu the Vampyre" (1979)
"Woyzeck" (1979)
"Fitzcarraldo" (1982)
"Where the Green Ants Dream" (1984)
"Cobra Verde" (1987)
"Scream of Stone" (1991)
"Invincible" (2001)
"The Wild Blue Yonder" (2005)
"Rescue Dawn" (2007)
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (2009)
"My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" (2010)
"The Piano Tuner" (2010)
Shorts
"Herakles" (1962)
"The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz" (1966)
"Last Words" (1967)
"Precautions Against Fanatics" (1969)
"No One Will Play With Me" (1976)
"Lessons of Darkness" (1992)
"O Soave Fanciulla" (2009) (Watch) (review)
Documentaries
Full length:
"Land of Silence and Darkness" (1971)
"Echoes From a Somber Empire" (1990)
"Bells from the Deep" (1993)
"Little Dieter Needs to Fly" (1997)
"My Best Fiend" (1999)
"Wheel of Time" (2003)
"The White Diamond" (2004)
"Grizzly Man" (2005)
"Encounters at the End of the World" (2007)
For TV:
"The Flying Doctors of East Africa" (1969)
"Handicapped Future" (1971)
"How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck" (1976)
"God's Angry Man" (1980)
"Huie's Sermon" (1980)
"The Dark Glow of the Mountains" (1984)
"Ballad of the Little Soldier" (1984)
"Wodaabe - Herdsmen of the Sun" (1989)
"Film Lesson 1-4" (1990)
"Jag Mandir" (1991)
"The Transformation of the World Into Music" (1994)
"Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices" (1995)
"The Lord and the Laden" included in "2000 Years of Christianity" (1999)
"Wings of Hope" (2000)
Short:
"Game in The Sand" (1964)
"The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner" (1974)
"La Soufrière" (1977)
"Portrait Werner Herzog" (1986)
"Les Gaulois" included in "Les Français vus par..." (1988)
"Pilgrimage" (2001)
"Ten Thousand Years Older", included in "Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet" (2002)
Screenwriter
;Films written, though not directed, by Herzog:
"Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" (1980)
;Werner Herzog has written all his films, except:
"Scream of Stone" (1991)
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (2009)
"My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" (2010)
"The Piano Tuner" (2010)
;Herzog has also co - written:
"Hunger in the world explained to my son" ("El hambre en el mundo explicada a mi hijo") (2002)
"Incident at Loch Ness" (2004)
Actor
"Geschichten vom Kübelkind" (1971)
"Man of Flowers (1983)
"Bride of the Orient " (1989)
"Hard to Be a God" (1990)
"Tales from the Opera" (1994)
"Burning Heart" (1995)
"What Dreams May Come" (1998)
"Julien Donkey-Boy" (1999)
"Incident at Loch Ness" (2004)
"Mister Lonely" (2007)
"The Grand" (2007)
Stage works
Opera
"Doktor Faustus" (1986, Teatro Comunale Bologna)
"Lohengrin" (1987, Festival Bayreuth)
"Giovanna d'Arco" (1989, Bologna)
"Lohengrin (opera)" (1991)
"La Donna del lago" (1992, La Scala)
"The Flying Dutchman" (1993, L'Opéra de la Bastille)
"Il Guarany" (1993, Opera Bonn)
"Norma" (1994, Arena di Verona)
"Il Guarany" (1996, The Washington Opera)
"Chushingura" (1997, Tokyo Opera)
"Tannhäuser" (1997, 1998 Teatro de la Maestranza, Teatro di San Carlo, Teatro Massimo)
"The Magic Flute" (1999, Teatro Bellini)
"Fidelio (1999, Teatro alla Scala)
"Tannhäuser (Wagner)" (2000)
"Giovanna d'Arco" (2001, Teatro Carlo Felice)
"Tannhäuser" (2001, Teatro Municipal oraz Houston Grand Opera)
"Die Zauberflöte" (2001, Baltimore Opera)
"The Flying Dutchman" (2002, DomStufen Festspiele)
"Parsifal" (2008, Valencia)
Theatre
"Floresta Amazonica (A Midsummer Night's Dream)" (1992, Teatro Joao Caetano)
"Varété" (1993, Hebbel Theatre)
"Specialitaeten" (1993, Etablissement Ronacher)
Bibliography
;Books
Writer:
"Of Walking In Ice" (Tanam, New York, 1981, ISBN 0934378010 )
"Fitzcarraldo: The Original Story" (Fjord Pr, January 1983, ISBN 978-0940242043)
"Conquest of the Useless' Herzog's diaries of the making of 'Fitzcarraldo" (published in Italian as "La Conquista dell'Inutile," English translation in preparation)
Co - writer:
Paul Cronin. "Herzog on Herzog" (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 2002, ISBN 0571207081) (extracts here: (... more)
Lena Herzog. "Pilgrims: Becoming the Path Itself" (Periplus Publishing London Ltd., ISBN 1902699432)
;Screenplays:
Writer:
"Cobra Verde" (Jade-Flammarion 2001, ISBN 2082030091)
"Wo Die Grünen Ameisen Träumen" (Hanser 1984, ISBN 3446141065)
"Nosferatu" (Ulbulibri, 1984)
"Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, Stroszek" (Mazarine 1982)
"Screenplays: Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Every Man For Himself and God Against All & Land of Silence and Darkness" (translated by Alan Greenberg & Martje Herzog; Tanam, New York, ISBN 0934378037)
"Drebücher III: Stroszek, Nosferatu" (Hanser 1979)
"Drebücher II: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, Jeder Fü sich Und gott Gegen Alle, Land des Schwiegens Und der Dunkelheit" (Hanser 1977)
"Drebücher I: Lebenszeichen, Auch Zwerge Haben Klein Angefangen, Fata Morgana" (Hanser 1977)
Co-writer:
Alan Greenberg & Herbert Achternbusch. "Heart of Glass" 1976
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Werner Herzog.
