UKH

Few have explored the extremes of outdoor life further than Bavarian film-maker Werner Herzog. As well as his many films - some strange, some disturbing - Herzog is a long-distance walker, and a writer too. Of Walking In Ice is only 66 pages, but it's still a big read, says Ronald Turnbull.

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Great article, thanks for this - loads of really interesting new information for me in there.

Amazing guy, and probably the only one on the planet who could handle Klaus Kinski. This is Kinski complaining about the food to the production mananger during the shooting of "Fitzcarraldo"; Herzog (voiceover) states that this was a comparatively mild outburst compared to the ones he himself was often subjected to:

youtube.com/watch?v=MPKODzv1PD4&

I listened to the 'This Cultural Life' podcast with him and he says he's not a filmmaker. He's absolutely adamant that he's a writer, not a director, spent the whole episode correcting the presenter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ry77

If the note regarding the BFI list is in reference to the Sight & Sound poll, then Herzog does make the list. The latest edition has Aguirre, Wrath of God at 118.

Any excuse to shoe-horn this in:

youtube.com/watch?v=EvWh6PMi9Ek&

That’s an intense performance from Kinski, absolutely brilliant. And Cobra Verde, Fitzcaraldo….

Fascinating stuff.

To add, Herzog's documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo, where they drag a steamboat over a mountain is called Burden of Dreams, which I'm sure inspired Nalle's naming of his 9A Lapnor project.

On the anecdote about threatening Klaus Kinski. In My Best Fiend, his documentary about his relationship with Kinski, Herzog recalls that near the ending of production of Aguirre, Kinski was having a tantrum and threatened to leave the production. He was packing his things into a speed boat and Herzog told him he had a rifle and by the time the boat got to the next bend in the river he'd have 8 bullets in his head. I don't think anyone who's seen the documentary would doubt that he was being sincere or blame him.

My Best Fiend is a brilliant watch! I remember watching that in my room as a teenager being absolutely blown away at some of the stories and clips of Kinski in his most egomaniacal states. Hilarious and terrifying at the same time