The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss

Werner Herzog

12 snips

Jul 24, 2024

Filmmaker Werner Herzog shares riveting stories from his new autobiography in a captivating conversation covering destiny, duty, endurance, leadership, courage, love, childhood memories, survival tales, and societal ethics. From poignant accounts of Holocaust survivors to contemplations on the significance of walking, heroes, religion, language, and unforgettable first-time experiences, this episode offers a multifaceted glimpse into Herzog's extraordinary life.

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ANECDOTE

The Hummingbird That Stopped A Chapter

A hummingbird interrupted Herzog while finishing his last chapter, leaving the sentence unfinished.
He used that sudden image as a literal mid-sentence stop to end his autobiography.

INSIGHT

Films Are Voyages, Writing Is Home

Herzog distinguishes his films as voyages and his writing as home.
That split explains why his prose may outlast his movies in longevity and intimacy.

ADVICE

Read, Read, Read

Read obsessively and repeatedly to build depth and imagination.
Werner Herzog insists reading is essential for filmmakers and thinkers.

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This is my second dialogue with filmmaker extraordinaire and force of nature, Werner Herzog. But after I read his amazing new memoire Every Man for Himself, and God Against All, which takes its name for the German title of his 1974 film The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, I had to have Werner back.

I have known Werner for almost 20 years. We met when I was a judge at Sundance and we gave his film Grizzly Man an award, and Werner, his wife Lena, and I have been fast friends ever since. He even allowed me to be a villain in the movie Salt and Fire, which we shot in Bolivia with Michael Shannon and Veronica Ferres. So, after all of this time I thought I really had a good handle on him. I was wrong.

So many people ask me about Werner, who has a reputation of being larger than life, and I always say what a kind, generous, pleasant man he is. All of that is true, but after reading his new autobiography, I realize that he IS larger than life!!

If it weren’t Werner, I would never believe all of the amazing stories and events. That he is still alive is alone almost a miracle. For this dialogue I decided that rather than following his story chronologically, I would read him various quotes from the book and ask him to elaborate. What followed was a rollicking conversation that is one of the most amazing I have recorded to date, and that I think presents Werner has perhaps few other interviews ever had. In the process we covered territory from science to philosophy to history to religion and beyond. And in the end, what arose most clearly from our discussion was that while he is a world famous filmmaker, what he really is at heart, is a poet. And we are all lucky to have him. Enjoy!

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