Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog at Ebertfest 2007.
Birth name	Werner Stipetić
Born	September 5, 1942 (1942-09-05) (age 64) Munich, Germany
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Martje Grohmann, Christine Maria Ebenberger, Lena Pisetski (1999–)
BAFTA Awards
Best Foreign Language Film Nominated Fitzcarraldo (1983)

Werner Herzog (born Werner Stipetić on September 5, 1942) is a critically and internationally acclaimed German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany. ... Munich (German: , pronounced  ; Austro-Bavarian: Minga [2]) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria. ... // Events Dr. No launches the James Bond film series, the longest-running motion picture franchise of all time, running more than 40 years. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards. ... For other meanings, see Fitzcarraldo (disambiguation). ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ...

He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders and others. Often hailed as a visionary maverick, his films often feature heroes with impossible dreams or people with unique talents in obscure fields. When the film industry first flowered in the period from 1900 to 1915, it took hold in Europe as well as America. ... New German cinema is a period in German cinema which lasted from the late 1960s into the 1980s. ... Rainer Werner Fassbinder (May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982) was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor, one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema. ... Volker Schlondorff Volker Schlöndorff (born in Wiesbaden, Germany on March 31, 1939) is a Berlin-based German filmmaker. ... Ernst Wilhelm (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German film director, photographer, and producer. ...

Early life

Herzog was born "Werner Stipetić" (IPA pronunciation: [stɪpɛtɪtʃ]) in Munich. He adopted the name Herzog, which means "duke" in German, later in life. His mother was of Croatian descent and his father abandoned them early in Herzog's youth.^[1] He grew up in a remote village in Bavaria. When he was thirteen he and his family shared an apartment with Klaus Kinski in Elisabethstr. in Munich-Schwabing. About this, Herzog recalled, "I knew at that moment that I would be a film director and that I would direct Kinski". Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Munich (German: , pronounced  ; Austro-Bavarian: Minga [2]) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria. ... For other uses, see Bavaria (disambiguation). ... Klaus Kinski. ...

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 eighteen listened to no music, sang no songs and studied no instruments. At fourteen 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 35mm camera that the young Herzog stole from the Munich Film School.^[1] He received his post-secondary education at the University of Munich and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... The Arricam ST, a popular 35 mm film camera currently used on major productions. ... With approximately 48,000 students, the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (German: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München or LMU) is one of the largest universities in Germany. ... Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne (IPA: ) first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of 40 students... Nickname: Motto: Benigno Numine (With the Benevolent Deity) Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States Commonwealth Pennsylvania County Allegheny Founded November 25, 1758 Incorporated April 22, 1794 (borough)   March 18, 1816 (city) Government  - Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area  - City 151. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ...

In the early 1960s Herzog worked night shifts as a welder in a steel factory to help fund his first films. Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. ...

Family

Herzog has been married four times and has had three children. In 1967 Herzog married Martje Grohmann, with whom he had a son in 1973, Rudolph Amos Achmed. In 1980 his daughter Hanna Mattes was born to Eva Mattes. In 1987, Herzog married Christine Maria Ebenberger. Their son, Simon David Alexander Herzog, was born in 1989. In 1999 Herzog married photographer Lena Pisetski (now Herzog). They now live in Los Angeles. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

Films and criticism

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. 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. For other meanings, see Fitzcarraldo (disambiguation). ... Storyboards are illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing an animated or live-action film. ... German film written and directed by Werner Herzog. ...

Aguirre: The Wrath of God - 1972

Herzog directed five films starring the German actor Klaus Kinski: Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, and Cobra Verde. In 1999 he directed and narrated the documentary film My Best Fiend, a retrospective on his often rocky relationship with Kinski. Image File history File links Aguirre_The_Wrath_of_God_DVD_cover. ... Image File history File links Aguirre_The_Wrath_of_God_DVD_cover. ... Klaus Kinski. ... German film written and directed by Werner Herzog. ... Woyzeck is a 1979 film by the German director Werner Herzog that stars Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. ... For other meanings, see Fitzcarraldo (disambiguation). ... This article is about the film. ... Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... My Best Fiend (German: Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski, literally My Dearest Enemy - Klaus Kinski) is a 1999 documentary by Werner Herzog about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski. ...

Herzog has used other actors repeatedly in his films:

• Bruno S. in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Stroszek
• Eva Mattes in Woyzeck and Stroszek
• Clemens Scheitz in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass, Stroszek and Nosferatu the Vampyre
• José Lewgoy in Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde
• Brad Dourif in Scream of Stone and The Wild Blue Yonder

Herzog uses chickens in many of his films, which he says frighten him with their extreme stupidity^[2]: Bruno S. was spotted by director Werner Herzog in the documentary Bruno der Schwarze - Es blies ein Jäger wohl in sein Horn (1970). ... DVD cover for The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (original title : Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle - Every man for himself and God against all) is a 1974 German film written and directed by Werner Herzog revisiting the legend of Kaspar Hauser. ... Stroszek is a 1977 film by German director Werner Herzog. ... Eva Mattes (born on 14 December 1954, in Tegernsee, Germany is a German-Austrian actress. ... Heart of Glass Heart of Glass is an experimental film for which director Werner Herzog had the entire cast, except for the actor playing a seer (and real-life glass blowers appearing in the film), hypnotized before each shooting. ... José Lewgoy was born in Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 1920, and died in 2003, in Rio de Janeiro. ... Bradford Claude Dourif (March 18, 1950, Huntington, West Virginia) is an American Academy Award nominated actor. ... The Wild Blue Yonder is a science fiction documentary film by the German director Werner Herzog, released in 2005. ...

• Game in the Sand centers around a chicken
• Signs of Life features a chicken buried up to its neck in a mound of sand
• Signs of Life and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser feature chicken hypnosis
• Even Dwarfs Started Small features cannibalistic chickens, and several sequences of dwarfs throwing chickens
• Stroszek ends with a long shot of a dancing chicken
• The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser contains a scene wherein local youths torment Kaspar in his tower room by 'hypnotizing' a chicken by laying it on its back, and drawing a chalk line away from its head.

Game in the Sand (German: ) is an unreleased short film written and directed by Werner Herzog in 1964. ... The title of NEMOs debut album which was released by Binge Records in 2004. ... Helmut Döring as Hombré Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen) is a 1970 film by German director Werner Herzog. ... DVD cover for The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (original title : Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle - Every man for himself and God against all) is a 1974 German film written and directed by Werner Herzog revisiting the legend of Kaspar Hauser. ...

Awards

Herzog and his films have won and been nominated for many awards over the years. Most notably, Herzog won the best director award for Fitzcarraldo at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. For other meanings, see Fitzcarraldo (disambiguation). ... Cannes Film Festival logo. ...

Grizzly Man, directed by Herzog, won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grizzly Man is a 2005 documentary film by German director Werner Herzog. ... The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks alongside the Cannes, France, Venice, Italy, Berlin, Germany, and Toronto, Canada festivals as one of the most prestigious in the world. ...

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 throughout the years: Herdsmen of the Sun in 1990, Bells from the Deep in 1993, Lessons of Darkness in 1993, and Wild Blue Yonder in 2006. Herzog's April of 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. The San Francisco International Film Festival held in March 1957 in San Francisco was the first North American Film Festival. ... Ebertfest - Roger Eberts Film Festival, originally known as Roger Eberts Overlooked Film Festival but commonly referred to as Ebertfest, is a film festival held each April in Champaign, Illinois organized by the College of Communications at the University of Illinois. ...

Works

Main article: List of Werner Herzog films

This is a list of films, television shows, and operas directed or produced by Werner Herzog. ...

Other

Werner Herzog is a Jury Member for the on going Filmaka amateur short film contest.

References

• Descheneaux, A. Présence Wagnérienne dans le film Invincible (2001) de Werner Herzog in Canadian University Music Review 24:30-61 n1 2003

An issue of Harpers Magazine from 1905 Another issue, from November 2004 Harpers Magazine (or simply Harpers) is a monthly general-interest magazine covering literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts from a progressive, moderate left perspective in a fashion often not found in the ordinary news... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The title of NEMOs debut album which was released by Binge Records in 2004. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Werner Herzog

• Official site
• Werner Herzog at the Internet Movie Database
• Senses Of Cinema on Werner Herzog
• The Onion interview (2007)
• PopMatters interview (2005)
• Roger Ebert interviews Werner Herzog (2005)
• Henry Rollins interviews Werner Herzog
• Doug Aitken Werner Herzog interview (2004)
• BBC interview (2003)
• indieWIRE interview

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