AS HE PUBLISHES HIS MEMORIES, WE SPEAK TO THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR ABOUT A LIFE AND FILMOGRAPHY IN EXTREMES
EVERYONE HAS AN IDEA OF WHAT WERNER HERZOG IS LIKE.
The filmmaker has travelled to the frozen ends of the Earth where the sun only sets in winter; he has battled Klaus Kinski’s wild ego in the oppressive heat of the Amazonian jungle. He has staged operas, dragged a ship over a mountain, and descended into a pitch-black cave to film prehistoric paintings in 3D. He has stood inside a volcano as it erupted, emerging sooty and sweaty but alive, and eaten his own shoe after losing a bet. There is no one like Werner Herzog — his existence attracts parodies of a number usually reserved for American Presidents. But what is Werner Herzog like, as told by Werner Herzog?
At 81, he has published his memoirs: Every Man For Himself And God Against All. He’s a busy guy. He recently self-funded and released Family Romance LLC (2019), a drama about a rent-a-family business in Japan. In 2022 he published a novel, The Twilight World, about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who surrendered 29 years after the end of World War II. And his latest documentary, about brains and neurotechnology, Theatre Of Thought, is currently doing the festival rounds.
His new book is a hypnotic series of recollections and visions that you cannot help but read in that iconic voice. He writes about his newborn-self surviving a bombing in Munich in 1942, his cradle filled with glass and rubble. He remembers growing up in extreme poverty, and of carrying his comatose friend on his back to the hospital, having just heard the sound of his skull hitting rocks far below a ski jump. There are vivid dreams of weasels. The book stops at the moment he sees a hummingbird at his window, thinking it’s “a stray enemy bullet”. It’s a journey through the heart of Herzog, with Herzog at the wheel. Just don’t call it an autobiography.
Let’s start with your autobiogra–
— Ihave to interrupt you. It’s not an autobiography, it’s memoirs. There’s a real distinction because autobiography would be more events, things like this. My memoirs are pure literature.
Why did you decide to write your memoirs now?
I had just finished a short novel, The Twilight World. My wife saw me looking out the window for two days and she said, “Why don’t you continue writing?” And I said, “Write what?” She said, “Why don’t you write some memoirs? Because someone else will come and do it otherwise.”
