Google
 

15 Minutes with Werner Herzog

November 25th, 2009 by Scott Marks

Nicolas Cage and Werner Herzog on the set of \

Nicolas Cage and Werner Herzog on the set of “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.”

It is probably not a good idea to invite directors Werner Herzog and Abel Ferrera to the same cocktail party. It seems the latter was none too pleased when the great German filmmaker announced that he was going to borrow the title from Ferrara’s “The Bad Lieutenant” and make a version all his own.

In a June 2008 interview in The Guardian, Ferrera, co-author and director of the first “The Bad Lieutenant,” likened Herzog’s version to being robbed and said the mere thought of remaking his film left him with “a horrible feeling.” He asked how Nicolas Cage “can even have the nerve to play Harvey Keitel” and called Herzog’s screenwriter William Finkelstein “an idiot.” Just to make sure his point was well taken, he proclaimed that those who participated in the remake “should all die in hell.”

“That’s show business,” Herzog joked when asked about Ferrera’s tantrum.

By now the once excitable visionary has learned to take things in stride. In “Fitzcarraldo” he managed to move a 340 ton steamship over a mountain with a bulldozer and without any special effects (unless you count the offscreen pyrotechnics that ensued between the director and his star Klaus Kinski). Wishing Herzog dead is like shooting spitballs at a battleship.

“Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” marks Werner Herzog’s 55th time in the director’s chair and probably the only time one of his films has opened wide at a multiplex near you. It’s a crazed cop film that stands on its own and has little to do with the Ferrara version. Nicolas Cage, who hasn’t been this good since “Apadtation,” plays a Big Easy detective investigating the murder of five Senegalese immigrants. He’s bad from the get-go and gets progressively worse after an on duty accident forces him to seek the cauterizing comfort of prescription drugs. The doc prescribed them and he misused them and watching Cage’s spiraling descent into drugs, gambling and madness proves to be one of this year’s funniest movies.

While the Ferrera version, in which Harvey Keitel investigates the rape of a young nun, has its share of nasty guffaws, I’m not sure it’s right to categorize it as even a comic drama. Herzog’s account is a balls out black comedy. Both films have their merits and if you are looking for some dark laughs during a holiday movie season that is as bleak as any on record this is easily the most satisfying mainstream adult movie currently playing.

We spoke with Werner Herzog about how film has changed during his near 50 year career, drug induced reptiles, Scorsese’s Jesus vs. Gibson’s Jesus and whether or not anything in his “Bad Lieutenant” remains Abel-bodied.

Scott Marks: I’m sure that you get a lot of people that tell you, “Oh, Mr. Herzog, I’ve seen all of your movies.” Well, I haven’t, but I’ve seen a good 70% of them and it’s safe to say that you’ve made my life as a filmgoer a whole helluva lot darker.

Werner Herzog (Laughing.): Well, then you must be in your 60’s and I no longer want to torture you.

If it is torture it’s invariably to my delight. At times, outsiders seem to have a better grasp of American culture than Americans do. Do you feel that having an ocean of separation helps you to make a truly objective film about America?

(Laughing) Oh, for God’s sake nobody will ever make an objective movie about America. No. I am just following my instincts and my fascinations. I live in your country as a guest and I wouldn’t live here if I fundamentally didn’t like your country. I do a film like “Bad Lieutenant” as a friend who has been allowed as a guest in the country.

Do you remember the first film that you ever saw?

Yes I do, but I don’t remember the name of it. It was very lousy and I didn’t enjoy it. Until then, and that was when I was 11, I didn’t know that cinema even existed.

When was the first time you realized that the actors didn’t make up the dialog as they went along?

I don’t recall, but I saw a film with a mistake in it where they recycled the same shot. I got suspicious and had the feeling that I should have a closer look at how a film is being made.

So it was a mistake of cinema that brought about your awakening?

It was just a careless recycling of a shot. Yes.

Why is it important that “Bad Lieutenant” takes place in New Orleans during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina?

Well, I think that’s where the film should be. It was written originally for New York, but I think New Orleans is a much better place.

I’m a bit puzzled over the significance of the reptiles in the movie. What’s going on with the snake, the iguanas and the dead alligator on the side of the road?

Remain puzzled! (Laughing) They’re so demented! Don’t fight to find the real answer, just enjoy them.

I’ll take your word for it. At the beginning of the film while McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) is still a good lieutenant, at least comparatively speaking, he dives into a flooded jail cell to save a prisoner.

Before he does so he wages bets with how long it’s going to take for the prisoner to drown with plenty of dark humor. He’s never really a good lieutenant.

Still, comparatively speaking he’s a pussycat at that point in the film.

Well, yes. He gets more violent, more debased and more dysfunctional, but because he’s like that he’s the one that solves the crime!

Any other director would have probably put a camera underwater and showed him banging his back against a desk or something. I really admire the fact that you didn’t dwell over how McDonagh injured himself. Was that your decision or was it in the script?

Of course, no, no! It was mine. The film was written for New York originally and it started out in a subway station where the Lieutenant rescues a suicidal man who jumps down to the tracks of an incoming train. I thought, number one there is no subway in New Orleans and number two, it’s too heartless.

It’s also too clichéd. How many times has that scene played itself out on network teledramas?

Yeah, yeah. Sure. Let’s face it. That was a very good screenplay with real fine dialog.

You have been working as a director consistently since 1962 and now find yourself working with a first time screenwriter. Do you feel that the script by William Finkelstein reflects…

He’s not a first-time screenwriter. Come on. Let’s face it, he worked for decades writing screenplays, but I think it was mostly for television.

Right. This was his first time writing a theatrical feature.

It doesn’t really matter.

Did that affect the way you approached bringing the script to the screen?

No, no. He’s such a good writer. In fact he’s such a character that I cast him in the movie and he’s very convincing as a gangster as well.

Continue reading 15 Minutes with Werner Herzog

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filed Under Interviews

EC talks with John Woo

October 8th, 2009 by Scott Marks

The name John Woo conjures up images of balletic violence, such as a gunslinger so busy pumping ammo that he forgets to remove the toothpick from his mouth, and shell casings lyrically bouncing against the rain-soaked pavement.

John Woo is arguably one of today’s most influential directors. The Chinese auteur, 63, is best known for a series of tough, style-drenched Hong Kong noirs (”The Killer,” “A Bullet in the Head,” “Hard Boiled”).

He made the move to Hollywood in 1993. Greeted by mixed reviews (”Hard Target,” “Broken Arrow”), Woo scored a critical and box office hit with “Face/Off.” His most personal American film, “Windtalkers,” was heavily edited (and ultimately abandoned) by MGM. While “Mission: Impossible II” was the highest grossing film of 2000, Woo has yet to make an American film that is a patch on any of his Hong Kong hits.

“Red Cliff” marks the director’s return to China after a 17-year absence. It’s one of the 200 films to be screened at the 10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, slated for October 15-29. The 148-minute “International Cut” of “Red Cliff” will be shown at 7 p.m. on Sunday, October 18 at Mission Valley UltraStar Cinemas at Hazard Center, 7510 Hazard Center Drive; www.sdaff.org

Woo’s film is an epic tale set in the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China, with battle sequences unparalleled by any film in recent memory. It is also a major return to form for the distinguished action director and a film that he is very proud of.

These days, Woo spends “more time in Beijing because I have quite a few projects working in China right now.” He calls Los Angeles his home.

During our interview, the great director spoke slowly and with frequent pauses as though choosing his words as carefully as he does his shots.

Scott Marks: Master Woo?

John Woo (Laughing): Hello, Scott

First off, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to talk to me about the San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) and “Red Cliff.” I didn’t gut much sleep last night. I feel like a giggling schoolgirl. You are someone who has had a tremendous impact on my film-loving life.

Thank you.

I’ll try not to keep you too long, so let’s kick this off. Where am I speaking to you from?

In Los Angeles.

Where do you spend most of your time now, in Hong Kong of Los Angeles?

For the moment I spend more time in Beijing because I have quite a few projects working in China right now. But my home is here. I come back quite often.

What was the first film that you remember seeing in a movie theater?

Do you mean Chinese movies or Western ones?

We’ll do one at a time.

The first time I remember going to a movie was called…it was a war movie.

I’m guessing it was some time ago.

Let’s see…I can’t remember the name. I was 8 or 9-years-old.

What was the first American film that you remember seeing in a movie theater?

“The Wizard of Oz.” It was the first American movie I ever watched. Before that I had seen quite a few Chinese opera movies, but for the American movie it was “The Wizard of Oz.”

When was the first time that you realized that actors didn’t make up the dialog as they went along and that there was intent and purpose behind the filmmaking process?

(Laughing) Gee, I don’t know. At the time I was so fascinated with the movies. I loved watching the performances and I didn’t notice the dialog.

You must have spent a great deal of your youth in  enormous, single screen dream palaces.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. We could watch all kinds of movies from all over the world. I spent a lot of time in big theaters. More than school!

As someone who grew up on the front lines of cinema, how do you feel about the multiplexing of movie theaters all in the name of staggered showtimes?

Staggered show times?

When we were growing up, you’d go to a theater, the usher would rip the ticket and there was only one auditorium to choose from. They didn’t have to direct you. Now they show the same movie on six screens in order to stagger the showtimes and sell more tickets.

Now it’s much more convent. I know what you are going for, but I think it’s a good thing being able to go in and watch any movie you like. In the old time, it wasn’t that easy. For my experience I grew up very poor. It wasn’t that easy to watch a movie. Since we were so poor, the (neighborhood) theater that we had was very small and it was not that easy to get in. Sometimes we had to sneak into the theater to watch since we had no money. Once you were discovered by the conductor they would throw you out. Sometimes I got beaten up by the people who were checking the tickets. I don’t know what you call them.

Ushers?

Yes.  We would get beaten up and thrown out of the theater. I wound up going outside to watch the movie through a peephole. Sometimes we would hide in the toilet and wait until there was no sign of the ushers. Later we had a lot of good theaters showing all kinds of art films. When we got some little money then we could watch any kind of movies we wanted. Every movie we could watch was like a treasure. It was so important to us.

You’re preaching to the choir. You grew up watching a lot of genre pictures. How did your passion for American musicals influence your trademark style of choreographed violence?

The place I lived was like hell. Everyday I had to deal with so many bad things. I had to deal with the gang fights. I had to fight to survive. I’ve seen so much crime and so many bad people, people who take drugs…I felt like I was in a living hell. There were two places I loved to go: the church and the theater. Whenever I felt sorrow after I got beaten up, I liked going to church to  get my comfort and the other thing was sneaking into the theater to watch a musical.

Well, they are both houses of worship.

When I watch a musical I find my hope. I find my heaven. I love the music, I love the costumes, I love the dance. Always they make me happy. And the musicals gave me a lot of life. They also made me learn how to dance. I was a pretty good dancer when I was in high school. He musical made me go in for a decent life. That’s very important.

It’s the way in which they express love in musicals. I’ll never forget Gene Kelly tap dancing with the roller skates on his feet in “It’s Always Fair Weather.” He finally accepts the fact he is a decent guy worth of Cyd Charisse’s love and he expresses it by dancing through a gorgeous studio mock up of a bustling New York street.

Yeah. And I like his smile. It’s so real and so touching. It really makes you feel happy. Of course I like “Singin’ in the Rain” a lot.

Great history lesson, too.

And I also love Fred Astaire.

I guess I’m in the camp that prefers Astaire over Kelly, but when you get to that level of artistic brilliance, why quibble?

Yeah, yeah.

Continue reading EC talks with John Woo

Tags: , , , , , ,

Filed Under Interviews

keep looking »