Werner Herzog shot in LA

[grady]

What the HELL!?

This evening I overheard a fellow student mention the event in my Film Noir class. I was surprised that this information wasn't broadcast throughout the channels and airwaves of mass communication on the internet. It made me question the validity of the story? Why hadn't the story been picked up and been making the rounds on film news sites?

This is what I found:

Google News search (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=werner+herzog+%2B+shot+&btnG=Search+News)

link 1 (http://www.slashfilm.com/article.php/2006020600463152)

Text: German director Werner Herzog has had quite an interesting life recently. Apparently, it was he who helped Joaquin Phoenix out of his wrecked car after the accident (http://www.slashfilm.com/article.php/20060129181139595). 63-year-old Herzog has a home nearby the canyon road above Sunset Boulevard, so he came to help the fresh Oscar nominee. But another accident was more dangerous for the director, who was shot by a crazed fan during a recent interview with the BBC.

Herzog was chatting with movie journalist Mark Kermode about his documentary, Grizzly Man, when a sniper opened fire with an air rifle. Kermode said that he thought it was a firecracker. "Herzog, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, said, 'Oh, someone is shooting at us. We must go,'” recalls the journalist. He also revealed that the director "had a bruise the size of a snooker ball, with a hole in. He just carried on with the interview while bleeding quietly in his boxer shorts."

An unrepentant Herzog insisted, "It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid."

After further digging and sifting through repostings of the above on two sites I located the video segment on BBC website. In the segment you see Werner chatting with Mark Kermode when the incident occurs, later in the interview Werner shows Kermode the wound in his abdomen/mid-section complete with blood and a welt.

the video (http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4680000/newsid_4681000/bb_rm_4681050.stm)

This past week I'd revisited a few of Herzog's films I hadn't seen in some years. (Fitzcarraldo; the documentary about the arduous production of the film, Burden of Dreams; My Best Fiend; and his newest film Grizzly Man) Having seen the video, I can't help but have greater respect for Herzog in light of the situation.

Watching the segment my mind wandered and tried to imagine what the situation might have been like if someone like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, or Martin Scorsese or any other big director were assaulted in such a manner. I can only imagine the reaction would not be nearly as calm as Herzog was. Who knows though.

[Deckard]

I knew nothing about this either, though I've been as out of touch with Mark Kermode as with Herzog.
Watching the segment my mind wandered and tried to imagine what the situation might have been like if someone like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, or Martin Scorsese or any other big director were assaulted in such a manner.
or Woody Allen. :D

[votingfloater]

Ah, he was probably aiming at Kermode and missed. ;)

[Tiger]

and his newest film Grizzly Man)

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1695584,00.html

[mmm skyscraper]

probably just a publicity stunt. a lot of Herzog stuff seems to blur the line between fiction and reality.

CNN would report anyone being shot at or shot; they don't care really.

[b.miller]

probably just a publicity stunt. a lot of Herzog stuff seems to blur the line between fiction and reality.

CNN would report anyone being shot at or shot; they don't care really.

yeah i agree completely. Lining up someone to shoot you in promotion for a movie that came out last year makes perfect sense. Once, in highschool i got castrated to bring more sympathy toward me and this paper that i had already wrote and been graded... sure it hurt a little bit and i don't have a penis anymore and the paper had already been graded so i didn't really get anything out of it, but man was it worth it!

[GforGroove]

Common guys.. are you saying Herzog staged that?
I know he is a weirdo and everything is really surrealist about him.. even this fame that now he achieve with Grizzly Man.. But if you've seen his films and know a bit about him, you knwo he is sooo not like that. One of the greatest filmmakers ever, doesn't really need that.. if he wants attention.. he just throw a ship down the Amazonas for example..

Im glad he didnt get hurt, when i read the title of this thread i was freaking out.

[Malt Refund]

or Woody Allen. :D

lol he's so depressed lately he'd probably gladly take the bullet.

[grady]

lol he's so depressed lately he'd probably gladly take the bullet.

Nah thats not the case. I see Woody choosing to continue to be depressed than death.

[grady]

probably just a publicity stunt. a lot of Herzog stuff seems to blur the line between fiction and reality.

CNN would report anyone being shot at or shot; they don't care really.
hmmm....getting shot for a publicity stunt...yes...yes..yes...brilliant idea. The shooting works much better than that knifing pitch the PR dept. had originally come up with.

CNN would report anyone being shot at or shot; they don't care really.
The above has me a bit perplexed. So if CNN did CARE, they would not report/air certain stories like this one out of respect for the individuals involved?

[GforGroove]

Nah thats not the case. I see Woody choosing to continue to be depressed than death.

ahahaha...

[GforGroove]

so taking avout Woody being depressed... i saw Matchpoint and was long as hell but it worth it... and talking about Herzog im watching in a bit "The Wild Blue Yonder!

We need to talk more about this movies here. B.miller. Grady. Save me.

[b.miller]

GOOD LUCK with wild blue yonder.

I'm watching The White Diamond tonight... I love Grizzly Man, thought Wheel of Time was pretty good, but didn't connect with Wild Blue Yonder AT ALL

[grady]

so taking avout Woody being depressed... i saw Matchpoint and was long as hell but it worth it... and talking about Herzog im watching in a bit "The Wild Blue Yonder!

We need to talk more about this movies here. B.miller. Grady. Save me.

I missed Blue Yonder at the Portland Internation Garage Sale last week.

Tonight I'm watching Incident at Lochness to keep with the Herzog vibe. Might click in on the Oscar for a few moments well

[grady]

so taking avout Woody being depressed... i saw Matchpoint and was long as hell but it worth it... and talking about Herzog im watching in a bit "The Wild Blue Yonder!

We need to talk more about this movies here. B.miller. Grady. Save me.
I will dig up the match point thread......here we go (http://www.dirty.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1493&highlight=match+point).

[GforGroove]

GOOD LUCK with wild blue yonder.

I'm watching The White Diamond tonight... I love Grizzly Man, thought Wheel of Time was pretty good, but didn't connect with Wild Blue Yonder AT ALL

Really??????

SPOILERS>>>>>>>>>>

Ok... First... the thing is that the topic of time, distance, were we are, etc.. is something that i'm really interested in, so regarding the mood about this, the movie did it for me a lot. Im up for "fantasy science fiction" BUT...

IF i understand correctly... The story of the Andromeda Alien and the Astronauts aren't connected. Just because Herzog connected allright? Also the alien is an actor?? Or just a a subject found?

SO.. Are we are in front of a fantasy story made of real footage and based on scientific facts? If so. Man, Herzog is brilliant.

For a moment i thought totally the helium sea were actually in another planet!!!!... All the sequences of the particles flying with that music are soo beautiful. Which make me thing in the fact that this is a way too emotional film totally different to the other of Herzong. yes human nature but more sentimental, don't you think?

why you didn't connect with it? Im curious. sure for me was hard to connect the bits but i connect totally with the whole mood and feeling, and this "spacey poetry" created by Herzog, did it for so much. Beautiful.

What about the Caos transportations systems?!!! I love when science gets so mystic and trippie... that they end up talking about citymalls because jungles are too appealing for people!! :p

More documentaries by Herzong please.

[b.miller]

no spoilers in this... at least i dont think there are. the jist of the movie since it didn't get a wide release is werner herzog doing a fake documentary about an alien and a manned mission to his native planet. Sounds sci-fi and fun, right? Well it's Herzog... and it's made with all stock photography from NASA and underwater diving footage intercut with short interviews conducted by Herzog and Brad Douriff playing the alien doing an extended monologue directly to the camera.

well... i saw Wild Blue Yonder in the midst of a film festival where I was seeing 4-5 films a day, so i was pretty tired when i saw it... but from what i remember I haven't changed my mind on it. Here's what I liked:

-Brad Douriff as the alien. his little monologues are funny and I think i saw that building that he's shot against in some other movie recently.

-The interviews with the theoretical physicists were the most exciting part for me.

and my gripes:

-the interviews with the theoretical physicists were the most exciting part for me!

-it's like 45 minutes too long. A lot of those chapters could be half as long as they were.

so i think the connection is i respond most to the stuff that Herzog shot. The stock photography really lost me, so I could never get into it while listening to that damned Sardinian vocal music.

Afterward I found myself waiting in line next to a guy who had seen it and he went off about the science not being right. I guess he was a physics major or something... I don't really care about the science not being right though - it's meant to be a Herzog "mockumentary" - but for whatever other reasons may be, i just didn't get into it at all.

Also, knowing it's not real or even supposed to be real put the distance even farther. I felt like Herzog could have gotten to the same emotions dealing with a real subject (like he did with Grizzly Man).

That said, The White Diamond is GREAT.

[GforGroove]

no way... the scientist were fake too??

Well i read a bit last night about the movie and since all is fabricated this can be too. What a great mockumentary :)..

As for the sardinian music, i like it when the particles are floating but i do recognize that is heavie. I was like were the hell is Sardinia? where uh?