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There's a certain kind of magic to seeing real life siblings sharing the screen. Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko. Chris and Luke Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok. Macaulay and Kieran Culkin in Home Alone. And soon to be joining that niche but ever eye-catching canon are Rooney and Kate Mara. Per Deadline's reporting, the sisters — stars of Carol and Black Mirror respectively — are set to lead Bucking Fastard, the latest movie from mellifluous German auteur Werner Herzog.

Despite their prolific screen careers, Emmy nominee Kate and two-time Oscar nomineee Rooney have never actually shared the screen with one another before. As such, Bucking Fastard — which Herzog is set to direct from a self-penned script — will be a first for the starring siblings, who are set to play twins here. While little has been confirmed regarding the plot for this one, with Deadline only stating that the sisters Mara will...

In 1828, a young man wandered the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. He was shoddily dressed, spoke very little, and only carried with him a handwritten note and prayer book. The person, later identified as Kaspar Hauser, attested to having spent his formative years locked in a dungeon and only being fed bread and water. One of many foundlings, or abandoned children, Hausers life has been one shrouded in mystery ever since and was brought to light in 1974 by director Werner Herzog in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser.

One of the main figures in the New German Cinema Movement alongside R.W. Fassbinder and Wim Wenders, Herzogs approach to directing has been one that challenges the medium and seeks out images that are beyond convention. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser embodies many of the traits that have been synonymous with Herzog throughout his career.

The documentary-like approach to narrative film, which he had...

Werner Herzog: Champion of the Outsider When I tell you that Werner Herzog once held an actor at gunpoint upon that actor’s refusal to act, you may wonder how he hasn’t been canceled (Herzog denies pulling the gun but not threatening his star’s life). When I tell you that the actor, Klaus Kinski, was considered a madman by his co-stars due to his erratic behavior, which included blindly firing a rifle through the side of a hut where the crew of the film ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ (1972) were playing cards, you may wonder how Klaus Kinski was not canceled. It’s a good thing that the average movie set isn’t inhabited by a collaboration as frightening as those between Herzog and Kinski, but the relationship between the two serves as a microcosm for the darkly compelling heart of many of Herzog’s films. Where others designated Kinski a madman,...

Paramount musical Mean Girls launches in 647 cinemas at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as it aims to end the six-week run of Wonka atop the chart.

From first-time feature directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., Mean Girls is based on the Broadway musical of the same name; which in turn was based on Mark Waters’ 2004 comedy; itself based on Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes.

Both films were written by Tina Fey, who reprises her role as maths teacher Ms. Norbury in the new title. Angourie Rice leads the film as teenager Cady Heron, who transfers...

Rereleased for its 50th anniversary, this gripping retelling of a true story about a disturbed youth who finds favour in high society, features a masterstroke of casting

Werner Herzog’s enduringly gripping and influential movie is rereleased for its 50th anniversary; it is Herzog’s early masterpiece, a bold and brilliant retelling of a strange true story from German history, plainly and candidly staged, full of poignancy, and pathos as well as mystery, but which is also revealed here to be about the arbitrary nature of survival and death. The original German title is Jeder für Sich und Gott Gegen Alle, whch translates as Every Man for Himself and God Against All, which Herzog used as the title of his recent autobiography.

In 1828, a disturbed and feral youth appears apparently from nowhere in Nuremberg, claiming to have grown up alone, imprisoned in a dungeon like an animal and then abruptly released and abandoned.

Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its reign over the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.2 million ($2.8 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

After six weekends at the box office, the Timothée Chalamet starrer has a sweet total of £56.1 million.

Disney’s Golden Globe-winning “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and featuring Emma Stone in a Golden Globe-winning performance, debuted with £1.8 million. In its third weekend, in third place, Sony’s “Anyone But You” collected £1,246,921 for a total of £5.3 million. Just below, with £1,246,292, in its second weekend, was Warner Bros.’ “One Life,” for a total of £5.8 million.

Rounding off the top five was Sky Cinema/Studiocanal release “The Beekeeper” with £956,380. The other debut in the top 10 was Warner Bros.’ “The Boys In The Boat” that bowed in 10th place with £270,297.

Among the new releases, opening mid-week on Jan. 17 is the keenly anticipated “Mean Girls,” starring Angourie Rice, Auli’i Cravalho, Reneé Rapp,...

Account of the German film-maker’s singular career takes in numerous starry admirers but also is a portrait of an existential disruptor

With pop-culture brand recognition like no other auteur, he walks the walk and talks the talk … in that inimitable voice. Werner Herzog – film-maker, visionary, adventurer and first among equals of the New German cinema – is now the subject of a highly enjoyable new documentary from Thomas von Steinaecker, who has assembled an A-list gallery of interviewees to talk about knowing or working with the great man; these include Wim Wenders, Volker Schlöndorff, Nicole Kidman, Chloé Zhao, Joshua Oppenheimer, Robert Pattinson and many more.

The release of this film happens to coincide with Herzog’s autobiography Every Man for Himself and God Against All (which is also the original German title of his film The Enigma of Kasper Hauser) and I was a little disappointed that Radical Dreamer does...

It’s that time again; Holiday Gift Guide time! We kicked off things with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and we will also feature guides on Blu-ray, Box Sets, Collectibles, and Toys! But first, here is our list of the best books to buy for the movie fan in your life (or maybe just for yourself!)

If you’re a geek like me, then you’ve probably got rows upon rows of pop culture books that hold a strong sense of nostalgia and importance to your nerd habits. From written works of fiction, behind-the-scenes art books, movie-related tie-ins, or comics and graphic novels, there’s a bevy of book-bound goods that bring joy and happiness to satiate any fanboy/girl and help fill those lonely shelves. This year is no different, with plenty to offer in all those departments. Take a gander at some of the coolest (and timeliest) books for this Holiday season!

At 81 years of age, over 60 films and as many years into his career, Werner Herzog is a man who has seen some stuff. Here is a man who has dragged a ship over a mountain for Fitzcarraldo, climbed a volcano set to erupt, had an entire cast hypnotised on Heart Of Glass, eaten his own shoe after losing a bet, and been shot at by an air-rifle wielding sniper mid-interview – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Speaking of which, he’s also made a movie in actual Antarctica, where the sun rises and sets only once a year. But if, like us, you’d imagine all these incredible experiences must make for some even wilder dreams, then you’d be very wrong. Werner Herzog hardly even dreams at all.

Yes, despite dreams being a major part of Herzog’s oeuvre – in 2016 documentary Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World,...

It’s the :a[end of an era for DC]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/the-end-of-the-dceu/' } as the epic saga’s final adventure, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, prepares to make a splash in cinemas this December. And, to mark the occasion, in :a[this month’s issue of Empire]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/empire-world-exclusive-aquaman-and-the-lost-kingdom-covers-revealed/' } we head back under the water with director James Wan for a world-exclusive deep-dive into the return of the Atlantean King, in the hotly-anticipated :a[Aquaman]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/aquaman-review/' } sequel.

The latest issue of Empire hits newsstands on 26 October, and you can :a[pre-order a copy online here]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/empire-december-2023?utm_source=dynamic&utm_medium=bws&utm_campaign=empire_singles&utm_content=empiredecember2023' }. In the meantime, read on for a sneak peek at what you can look forward to within our pages this month…

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom

2018’s billion dollar grossing...

Werner Herzog has had a remarkably varied and prolific career. Ever since working on his first short film, Herakles, back in 1961, he’s gone on to produce, write and direct more than 60 feature films and documentaries, including adventure-drama :a[Fitzcarraldo]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/fitzcarraldo-review/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}, historical epic :a[Aguirre, The Wrath Of God]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/aguirre-wrath-god-review/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}, the 1979 version of the classic blood-sucking tale, :a[Nosferatu The Vampyre]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/nosferatu-vampyre-review/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}, and many, many more.

Also included in that huge filmography is a trip to a galaxy far, far away. Yes, Herzog is part of the :a[Star Wars]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-timeline-chronological-order/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} family too, having played The...

Werner Herzog has traveled to the ends of the earth for his art, rolling cameras in places rarely seen by human eyes — from rapids along the Amazon River for 1972’s “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” to the rim of an active volcano in Antarctica. But what’s inside Herzog’s head is what fascinates fans of the German director.

As revealed in a new memoir, “Every Man for Himself and God Against All” (the phrase served as the original title of his 1974 film “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser”), Herzog’s far-ranging filmography represents only a fraction of the encounters and adventures that have shaped his worldview.

The book came easily, or so he insists as we huddle in a quiet corner of the Montrose airport in Colorado, following the Telluride Film Festival, where he’s been a fixture for nearly all of the last 50 years.

“It could have been five times as long,...

Loneliness and longing are examined with a forensic and unflinching eye in “Shelter,” a bleak Irish-language drama about a reclusive 20-something man-child who must face the world he has been protected from all his life. but its intensity and refusal to indulge in sentimentality makes it sometimes tough to watch. Adapted from the 2013 novel “The Thing About December” by Donal Ryan, “Shelter” marks a promising debut by writer-director Sean Breathnach and has been selected as Ireland’s official submission for the 2022 international feature Oscar.

The basic outline of “Shelter” echoes films such as Werner Herzog’s “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser” and Rolf de Heer’s “Bad Boy Bubby,” in which young adult males are suddenly thrust into the world after being cruelly locked away from it all their lives. In “Shelter” it is not imprisonment but willing acceptance of overwhelming parental love that has kept John Cunliffe (Donal O...

Ramin Bahrani, Oscar-nominated writer/director of The White Tiger, discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The White Tiger (2021)

Man Push Cart (2005)

Chop Shop (2007)

99 Homes (2015)

The Boys From Fengkuei (1983)

The Time To Live And The Time To Die (1985)

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976)

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

La Terra Trema (1948)

Umberto D (1952)

Where Is The Friend’s Home? (1987)

Nomadland (2020)

The Runner (1984)

Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989)

A Moment Of Innocence a.k.a. Bread And Flower Pot (1996)

The House Is Black (1963)

The Conversation (1974)

Mean Streets (1973)

Nashville (1975)

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (1972)

The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Vagabond (1985)

Luzzu (2021)

Bait (2019)

Sweet Sixteen (2002)

Abigail’s Party (1977)

Meantime (1983)

Fish Tank (2009)

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Malcolm X (1992)

Nothing But A Man (1964)

Goodbye Solo (2008)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973)

Dekalog (1989)

The Double Life Of Veronique...

Dieter Laser, the German actor best known for his role as the deranged doctor in “The Human Centipede,” has died. He was 78.

A post on his Facebook page stated that the actor passed away on Feb. 29.

“We are very sorry to have to inform you that Dieter Laser passed away on February 29, 2020,” the post read. No cause of death was mentioned.

Also Read: 'Human Centipede' Director Tom Six Takes on Censorship, Critics: 'I Like the People Who Hate It'

Laser had more than 60 films and TV series credited to his name, including Tom Six’s “The Human Centipede,” in which he kidnaps three tourists and surgically joins them together. The 2009 horror film became a cult hit.

On Thursday, Six took to Twitter to share his condolences, writing, “I’m totally shocked Dieter passed away. He was a force of nature, an [sic] unique human being and an iconic actor. I’m...

Legendary director Werner Herzog, one of the founders of the German New Wave, whose films embrace obsessive quests and maddening conflicts with nature, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ Board of Governors Award at the 34th annual Asc Awards on January 25 (at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom).

“Werner Herzog is truly a unique storyteller, and we are honored to recognize him for his prolific contributions to cinema,” said Asc President Kees van Oostrum.

Herzog has produced, written, and directed more than 70 feature and documentary films. His volatile, love-hate relationship with actor Klaus Kinski resulted in such powerful films as “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo,” “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” and “Woyzeck.” Other masterpieces include “Stroszek” and “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser,” both starring street musician-turned actor Bruno S.

Herzog received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature for “Encounters at the End of the World,” while “Little Dieter Needs to Fly...

Werner Herzog has a near-mythic presence in world cinema. The 76-year-old German director makes brutally authentic features — Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Fitzcarraldo — and, with the likes of Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, fantastically imaginative documentaries. "They are often fictions in disguise," Herzog says, in that ponderous Germanic monotone familiar from the countless voiceovers on his films that has become almost as famous as the filmmaker himself.

The fuzzy and fluid border between the real and the imagined has been a constant in Herzog’s work — as it is in his new ...

Werner Herzog has a near-mythic presence in world cinema. The 76-year-old German director makes brutally authentic features — Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Fitzcarraldo — and, with the likes of Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, fantastically imaginative documentaries. "They are often fictions in disguise," Herzog says, in that ponderous Germanic monotone familiar from the countless voiceovers on his films that has become almost as famous as the filmmaker himself.

The fuzzy and fluid border between the real and the imagined has been a constant in Herzog’s work — as it is in his new ...

If one is looking to experience a dose of astonishing beauty, now in theaters in the Oscar-nominated animation The Red Turtle. A co-production with Studio Ghibli, Michaël Dudok de Wit’s first feature-length film is a humble, patient drama with an emotionally rich finale. To celebrate its theatrical release here in the U.S., we’re highlighting the director’s all-time favorite films, which he submitted to BFI‘s latest Sight & Sound poll. Featuring classics from Kubrick, Cimino, Kurosawa, and more, on the animation side, he makes sure to recognize a Miyazaki masterwork, along with a seminal Disney film.

“Just before the team arrived, Studio Ghibli called me and said, ‘We’ve been thinking about the list of words that are supposed to be spoken in the film and we think you should drop the dialogue entirely,'” the director told us, speaking about the production process of his film.

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

1828 Feral teenager Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering Nuremberg, claiming to have been raised in total isolation. Theories abound and the story inspires many artists down the road including Werner Herzog in the film The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974).

1877 Influential dancer Isadora Duncan is born. Vanessa Redgrave gets an Oscar nomination playing her in Isadora! (1968)

1886 Al Jolson is born. Will later star in the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer (1927)

1894 Silent film star Norma Talmadge is born

1897 Bram Stoker's epistolary novel "Dracula" is published. Never stops being adapted for film and television but our hearts will always belong to Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) despite the aggravating double possessive

1907 John Wayne was born. Did he always talk like that?

1913 Peter Cushing is born in England. Later stars in Hammer Horror films with his irl best friend Christopher Lee, the Dracula to his Van Helsing.

Mubi is showing Werner Herzog's Fata Morgana April 21 - May 20, 2016 in the United States.Fata MorganaI have a bone to pick with conventional wisdom about the films of Werner Herzog. You will often hear it said in a film class or a Herzog article that his body of work, which is acclaimed equally for fiction and documentary films, “blurs the line” between those two storytelling poles. To my knowledge, no filmmaker with as regarded a name as Herzog’s has such a voluminous body of work within the fiction and documentary bounds. Countless filmmakers have reached heights in both, but few have done it as consistently and repeatedly. Making Herzog rarer still are his other films (or sometimes just scenes in his films) which cast aspersions on this kind of talk that separates documentary and fiction as opposites meant to be mixed. The experimental works, of which the beguiling...

The best-known films of director Lenny Abrahamson, Frank and the quadruple Oscar-nominee Room, follow sad, and in some cases, broken souls as they search and fight for even the tiniest glimpse of happiness. Frank follows a band with an intentionally unpronounceable name, whose lead singer (Michael Fassbender) always wears a fake plastic head, concealing his scarred face from the world. In Room, a mother (Brie Larson) and her young son (Jacob Tremblay) survive a tragic fate, held prisoner in a single room for years on end.

The two films share an acute sensitivity to the lives of characters who struggle to make the best of the often brutal fates with which they’ve been burdened. Abrahamson listed the following ten films as his favorite in 2012’s Sight and Sound poll, a brilliant mixture of stories which as he laments in his quote, could have contained far more than a mere ten selections.

All week long our writers will debate: Which was the greatest film year of the past half century.  Click here for a complete list of our essays. I was one of the first to select years for this particular exercise, which probably allowed me to select the correct year. The answer is, of course, 1974 and all other answers are wrong. No matter what your criteria happens to be, 1974 is going to come out on top. Again, this is not ambiguous or open to debate. We have to start, of course, with the best of the best. "Chinatown" is one of the greatest movies ever made. You can't structure a thriller better than Robert Towne and Roman Polanski do, nor shoot a Los Angeles movie better than John Alonzo has done. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway give the best performances of their careers, which is no small achievement. If you ask...

Das Gespenst (1982)

“I always have a simple story, but I tell it so fanatically and wildly and tenderly and cursingly and on fire and in need of being loved that you’ll find a slice of life in front of you.”

The first time I saw Herbert Achternbusch he was hypnotizing a chicken in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Anybody who has seen the film might recall the chicken, but who is Herbert Achternbusch? It is a question that cannot be simply answered. Achternbusch captions his entire artistic output with a paradox: ‘You don't have a chance, but use it’. Trying to make sense of his work, this epigram sounds appropriate.

Matters are not helped by the unavailability of most of his films on DVD. In Germany, a boxset devoted to Achternbusch is now out of print, although two key works—Heilt Hitler (1986) and Das Gespenst (1982)—remain in circulation.

It is finally time to look at the second disc of the BFI collection box set. Hope you enjoyed part one and potentially found it useful. This time round, there are only two titles to devour. One being my personal favourite Herzog film, and the other being an example of his early television documentary work.

The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

“Nothing lives less in me than my life”

Up until his late teens, Kaspar Hauser (Bruno S.) was locked in a cellar by a man in an overcoat and top hat. Devoid completely of any human contact aside from his mysterious captor, Kaspar had only a toy horse to occupy his time. One day however, Kaspar is finally released by the man, taught some very basic phrases, handed a letter and a Bible, and left in a town square in Nuremberg. Understandably, the locals are intrigued by this mysterious fellow...

Stroszek

Written an directed by Werner Herzog

Germany, 1977

You really can’t go wrong with any of the 16 titles included in Herzog: The Collection, the recently released limited edition Blu-ray set. This stunning compendium features several of the incomparable Werner Herzog’s finest fiction and documentary films (including many that fall somewhere between those categories), most available for the first time on Blu-ray. Though the strongest cases could be made for Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, it would be difficult to necessarily pick the “best” film included here, but one movie that has always stood out as being among Herzog’s most unusual is Stroszek, from 1977. Well received upon its release, and now recognized as one of the German filmmaker’s finest films, Stroszek is something of an enigma in Herzog’s career full of enigmatic works.

The picture follows three Berliners as they flee their homeland for...

Herzog: The Collection I've been reviewing Werner Herzog movies for the last 13 weeks or whatever it is and all in anticipation of this new 16-film collection from Shout Factory, which finally releases today and includes Even Dwarfs Started Small, Land of Silence and Darkness, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass, Stroszek, Woyzeck, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, Ballad of the Little Soldier, Where the Green Ants Dream, Cobra Verde, Lessons of Darkness, Little Dieter Needs to Fly and My Best Fiend. Of the bunch I can tell you flat out Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Stroszek, Nosferatu the Vampyre and Fitzcarraldo are great films and that's without the special features this set contains, which are: English Audio Commentaries: Even Dwarfs Started Small, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass,...

This contest is so good it speaks for itself. ShoutFactory is putting out a massive, limited edition Werner Hezog box set titled “Herzog: The Collection.” Limited to 5,000 copies, the 13-disc set features 16 acclaimed films and documentaries from the German iconoclast, 15 of which are making their Blu-ray debuts. "The Collection" also features a 40 page booklet that includes photos, an essay by award-winning author Stephen J. Smith, and in-depth film synopses by Herzog scholars Brad Prager and Chris Wahl. Herzog: The Collection includes: Even Dwarfs Started Small Land of Silence and Darkness Fata Morgana Aguirre, the Wrath of God The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser Heart of Glass Stroszek Woyzeck Nosferatu the Vampyre Fitzcarraldo Ballad of the Little Soldier Where the Green Ants Dream Cobra Verde Lessons of Darkness Little Dieter Needs to Fly My Best Fiend · English Audio Commentaries: Even Dwarfs Started Small, Fata Morgana,...

It may be a mildly controversial proposition to assert but, apart from clear-cut cases from fairly early in his career (pre-eminently Aguirre, the Wrath of God [1972] and Every Man for Himself and God Against All/The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser [1974]), Werner Herzog’s documentaries are far better, on the whole, than his fiction films. This assertion comes with necessary caveats: some of his fictions, including the even earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) and Fata Morgana (1972), come freighted with a bracing dose of "pure" documentary observation; and, inversely, some of his documentaries are enlivened by a large dose of fictional techniques, such as in the spooky Lessons of Darkness (1992).>>> - Adrian Martin...

It may be a mildly controversial proposition to assert but, apart from clear-cut cases from fairly early in his career (pre-eminently Aguirre, the Wrath of God [1972] and Every Man for Himself and God Against All/The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser [1974]), Werner Herzog’s documentaries are far better, on the whole, than his fiction films. This assertion comes with necessary caveats: some of his fictions, including the even earlier Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) and Fata Morgana (1972), come freighted with a bracing dose of "pure" documentary observation; and, inversely, some of his documentaries are enlivened by a large dose of fictional techniques, such as in the spooky Lessons of Darkness (1992).>>> - Adrian Martin...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Shout! Factory:

A visionary creator unlike any other, with a passion for unveiling truths about nature and existence by blurring the line between reality and fiction, Werner Herzog is undoubtedly one of cinema’s most controversial and enigmatic figures. Audiences the world over have marveled at his uniquely moving, often disturbing, but always awe-inspiring stories, and his ever-growing body of work has inspired an untold number of filmmakers. He is, and continues to be, the most daring filmmaker of our time.

In celebration of this cinematic vanguard, Shout! Factory will release Herzog: The Collection on July 29th, 2014. Limited to 5,000 copies, the 13-disc box set features 16 acclaimed films and documentaries, 15 of which are making their Blu-ray debuts. Herzog: The Collection also features a 40 page booklet that includes photos, an essay by award-winning author Stephen J. Smith, and in-depth film synopses by Herzog...

Werner Herzog's Stroszek is exactly what you'd expect from the eccentric filmmaker, which is to say it's somewhat inexplicable, entrancing, honest and leaves us scratching our heads for meaning as much as it all seems crystal clear. I've seen it referred to as a comedy and I guess if you consider the premise it does sound like one of those "a rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into a bar" jokes, but therein lies the mystery of Herzog, a man that will take a mildly retarded ex-con, a prostitute and an elderly German man and offer a scenario wherein the trio pack up, leave Germany and make a new home in Wisconsin. Makes perfect sense... rightc The film's origins are as wild, if not more so, than the premise. Herzog originally intended to cast his lead actor, Bruno S. (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser), in Woyzeck only to...

In discovering Bruno S., Werner Herzog found exactly the kind of actor he needs, someone who doesn't necessarily "act" in a role, but someone that more-or-less is the character he/she was hired to portray. In this case, the story of Bruno S. (full name Bruno Schleinstein) holds eerie similarities to the title character in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, a 19th century Germany-set story of a man who was locked away in a dungeon for the first 17 years or so of his life only to one day be found in a small town square outside Nuremberg, alone and holding only an anonymous letter. The film is based on a true story, though Herzog holds little allegiance to reality as he cast Bruno (as I'll refer to him throughout the rest of this review), a man in his forties portraying what history would tell us is only a boy in his late teens.

The relationship we have with film is a bit of a rollercoaster, perhaps for me more than a general audience member given the number of films I see, but nevertheless, I think we can all admit to falling into a rut at times. For general audience members, however, you can step away from the weekly noise of the new releases and just sit back with a favorite TV show or an old favorite and find your groove once again until the next new release piques your interest. For me, I'm constantly trying to find that great new movie that I haven't seen as well as watching the occasional favorite I've seen before, or finding the time to completely invest in a television show I enjoy, such as was the case last week with "Hannibal" (speaking of I have a treat for you at the end of this post). Last week,...

I didn't even realize this was going to be the 250th installment of the "What I Watched" columns. To think I started this column almost four years ago with my first viewing of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, a film that would become my first "Best Movies" entry this year, is almost astonishing. I guess it's also exciting, for me personally, that I saw a film just today, a film I finished only seconds before starting today's column, that I absolutely loved. That film was Werner Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, which will be this week's Herzog review so more on that shortly. Today, in fact, was a day of movies for me as I also watched Michael Bay's Bad Boys and John Huston's Key Largo starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall and Lionel Barrymore. You all know Bad Boys, but I will...

Listening to Hollywood producer Michael Gruskoff talk about his experiences with some of the most legendary directors is an awe-inspiring learning experience. In a business so reluctant to taking chances that might represent financial loss, Gruskoff has placed it all on the line in order to support original voices and talent outside the norm. Although he admits that some of his projects were more successful than others, he remains certain that he always went with his gut in pursuit of talent. In that regard, he has undoubtedly overachieved.

The list of people he has worked with includes acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog , Jean-Jacques Annaud , Mel Brooks , and Stanley Donen. Gruskoff has always had an international taste and is unafraid of searching for stories abroad. Not surprisingly, he is a member of the Academy’s Foreign Language Film branch, to which he returned, invited by Mark Johnson, the head of the Foreign Language Committee, after serving there in the past. Once again he brings his expertise and eclectic global influences to support the Academy in its efforts to highlight World Cinema as a crucial element of the film industry.

Winner of a Cesar Award for the film Quest for Fire , and an outspoken defendant of the filmmaking craft over the cult of celebrity, Mr. Gruskoff is a humble creative person. Still fully in love with cinema despite the ups and downs the industry throws at anyone who attempts to make a living out of its unstable magic, it is incredible to see that passion for a great story is still Michael Gruskoff’s prime motivation. This writer had the privilege to talk to Mr. Gruskoff’s a couple weeks ago in Beverly Hills. Here is what he shared with us.

Carlos Aguilar: Could you tell us how you got started in the film industry?

Michael Gruskoff: I started in the N.Y. mailroom of the William Morris Agency and ended my agency career at Creative Management Associates. While at Cma I was representing Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda during Easy Rider, as well as Robert Redford, Natalie Wood ,Faye Dunaway, amongst others. I started getting the producing "bug" while representing Albert Ruddy and Irwin Winkler, having been instrumental in the packaging of some of their films. It was an exciting time in the industry, with the success of Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, and The Graduate, the studios were open to taking chances with new talent and ideas. Ned Tanen at Universal set up an independent division and asked me to run it but I opted to make an overall three picture production deal. I went into business with Douglas Trumbull, Michael Cimino, Sam Shepard and Steven Bochco and independently developed low budget scripts off the studio lot. It kicked off with Dennie Hopper's The Last Movie and Silent Running, a science fiction film dealing with environmental issues. I also developed a script called Conquering Horse with Cimino, which we were going to do in the Sioux language, a predecessor to Dances With Wolves, but it was tabled because of budget issues.

Aguilar: How did your interest in foreign cinema developed?

Gruskoff: Seeing Luis Buñuel , Ingmar Bergman , Vittorio De Sica, and Akira Kurosawa's films got me interested in foreign cinema. Another filmmaker that impressed me was Gillo Pontecorvo the director of The Battle of Algiers, which is one of the great anti-war movies. I was an agent at the time, and asked him if I could represent him. He said "Michael, I don't make that many movies, and you are not going to make any money with me because I'm not interested in working in the Hollywood system" I said, "It’s Ok, you can come to me if you're having trouble raising money for a project/" He said "That could work, but please do not send me any scripts." I was also Anouk Aimée's agent when she did A Man and a Woman with Claude Lelouch. She was responsible for me meeting many people in French and Italian cinema. She's a great lady.

Aguilar : What were your thoughts on the batch of films submitted this past year for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film? Were there any you consider highlights?

Gruskoff : You always look for a diamond that might be there. You have to see films from some 70 countries and many do not work, but being part of the industry I feel it's my way of supporting the Academy. You have to see four films a week, and with the addition of seeing new films. the internet, plus cable, and family etc. It's an overload of information. I did see a jewel of a film from Iceland called Of Horses and Men directed by Benedikt Erlingsson. We have been in touch and are in the process of discussing a project he is writing. He's a bold new voice.

Aguilar: How do you think this category benefits the industry and foreign filmmakers?

Gruskoff: Foreign filmmakers want us to see their films. They have stories they want to tell and we have the ability to make their dreams come through. It benefits us to see what's being made around the world because we are all part of the film community.

It's interesting talking to Bernardo Bertolucci about Italian realism and how those great Italian films and directors came together in the late 40s, 50s and 60s with Rossellini and Fellini , Visconti, etc. After Mussolini and the end of Ww 2 there was such exuberance that filmmakers ran into streets and started making movies. It was a great period in Italian Cinema.

Aguilar: Do you believe this nostalgia for those filmmakers influenced voters to choose The Great Beauty as the winner?

Gruskoff: Sorrentino is s very talented director and he carries the torch of Fellini. I liked The Great Beauty and I also loved his Il Divo

Aguilar: When watching these or any other film, as a producer do you look for something different in them from what a director or an actor might?

Gruskoff: I'm just hoping that when the lights go down I'll see a good film. I want to be entertained and have it not be a waste my time. When I saw 12 Years a Slave it blew me away. Steve McQueen is a great filmmaker because he puts all his passion on the screen and he doesn't cop out. It was real. I like movies that don't pander to the audience.

Aguilar: Would you say all of the 76 films submitted were on a level playing field, despite some of them being obscure titles and not having a festival run?

Gruskoff : I saw a real voice in Benedikt Erlingsson, Sebastian Lelio with Gloria , The Hunt , Omar , The Past , The Missing Picture , or The Broken Circle Breakdown.The directors have something to say and they know how to say it. An interesting thing is when you are seeing that many movies in an environment where the people like films, you really start getting into it. Like being at a Festival.

Aguilar: Now that you mention the Academy wants to promote foreign films, how do you perceive the role of world cinema in Hollywood today? Is it more influential?

Gruskoff: Definitely. 2/3 of the box-office comes from foreign markets. More films will be made with Asian and European talent to bolster their international box-office. Moviegoers in those countries like to see a character they can relate to as long as it's realistically part of the story.

Aguilar: On that note, can you talk about the international filmmakers you've work with throughout your career?

Gruskoff: I met Paul Verhoeven after seeing Soldier Of Orange, one of his earlier films. We developed a screenplay called Harry’s Tale. Unfortunately, it was ahead of its time and the budget was too high.

After seeing The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser by Werner Herzog , I called him. He mentioned Nosferatu the Vampyre , and said he wanted to remake it and it would be a film that "the likes of which the world has never seen before", and I told him "Please be my guest" [Laughs]. I got the financing from Fox and we made it for $900,000 starring Isabelle Adjani , Klaus Kinski and Bruno Ganz. . Werner is a tremendously innovative film director.

I briefly worked with Russian director, Andrey Konchalovskiy , we developed a story that never got to be a screenplay.

Following that, Jean-Jacques Annaud gave me the English translation of a book called “La guerre de feu”, which is Quest for Fire . The film became an international hit and it earned us 5 Cesar Awards including Best Picture. It was a great moment when Orson Welles handed me the award.

Aguilar: One of the great American directors you worked with was Mel Brooks, how did that relationship begin?

Gruskoff: I had briefly met Mel Brooks when I was working in the mail room at William Morris Agency in New York. At the time I was 22 and he was 32, and he had already achieved success in television.

Mike Medavoy worked as an agent at Cma during the early 70s and wanted me to come back and work with him. I wanted to continue producing, and he gave me the treatment for a movie called Young Frankenstein.written by Gene Wilder. I said I wanted to produce it , but Gene said that it was up to Mel Brooks to decide. Having met Mel Brooks earlier and since he actually remembered and liked me, he said "Let's do it ...get the deal." At that point in Mel's career, he made two terrific films, The Twelve Chairs and The Producers, both films did not make money and he was just starting to reignite his career with pre-production on Blazing Saddles.

I set Young Frankensteinn up at Columbia but they passed because the budget was too high and Mel, rightfully so, wanted to make it in Black & White. They were insisting that it should be in color. I gave it to my friend Alan Ladd Jr. at Fox and he said yes with an even bigger budget than we had. Seven years later Mel and I did My Favorite Year based on an idea I had. The original script was written by Norman Steinberg and Mel helped develop and executive produce it.. Peter O'Toole was a dream to work with and I learned a lot about filmmaking working with him.

Aguilar: Going back to the Foreign Language Academy Award, back when the shortlist and eventually the nominees were announced, there was much talk about several films being snubbed, including Gloria and The Past. Why do you think these weren't included?

Gruskoff: Gloria probably didn’t get nominated because it wasn’t as serious as some of the other films. We will be hearing a lot from its director Sebastian Lelio. On the other hand, it's about preferential viewing, Farhadi makes very specific movies. He is a serious filmmaker, and he is a very good storyteller. He is another director that tells it how it is. His films are like reading a book with great characters, It was one of my favorite films but it was a tough movie for some people. He is what he is, take it or leave it. He just does his thing.

Aguilar: Are there any filmmakers you would like to work with in the future? Anyone who has caught your eye?

Gruskoff: Sure, David O. Russell would be great. [Laughs]. Other great directors whom I would love to work with are Steve McQueen, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan , David Fincher, or Kathryn Bigelow ....who wouldn't!

Aguilar: Where do you think the industry is going, with all the awards campaigns and the more glamorous, less artistic, side of the business becoming so prominent?

Gruskoff: The industry has become more about celebrity. After seeing 12 Years a Slave at the Pacific Designer Center early on, I knew McQueen's work was just beginning. He was going to have to live between L.A. and N.Y.C. to attend press events and Q&As for the next six months....longer than it took to shoot the film. Fashion has also joined the fray to cross-promote films.

Just a few years ago when Sydney Pollack made a movie and the distribution people received the print, the filmmakers promotion schedule was not as arduous. Going to 2 or 3 major cities with the actors before the film opened. Now it has become so celebrity-driven with all the different outlets fighting for space, it has gotten out of hand. If you have Brad Pitt producing or Ben Affleck starring, you have an opportunity to promote your film on every talk show. It cuts your marketing costs, which are very expensive and getting even more expensive, even with the help of the internet.

Aguilar: What are your future plans? Looking back your career are there any regrets?

Gruskoff: As a producer you are always looking for a good story. I did Quest for Fire and my friends said “Don’t you have something better to do with your time? You will never get it made.” Miraculously it did get made. I’d like to do dark comedies in the vein of American Beauty or Fargo. It's about what turns you on, what gives you a rush, because it is such a difficult journey. You never know what's around the corner.

This week involved a lot of movies at home, including the new Blu-ray for Double Indemnity, the new Blu-ray for William Friedkin's Sorcerer (read my review here) and, last night, I watched Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God on Fandor.com as I'll be reviewing 16 of Herzog's upcoming movies leading up to Shout Factory's release of Herzog: The Collection Limited Edition on July 29. The set includes Even Dwarfs Started Small, Nosferatu The Vampyre, Land Of Silence And Darkness, Fitzcarraldo, Fata Morgana, Ballad Of Little Soldier, Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, Where The Green Ants Dream, The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, Cobra Verde, Heart Of Glass, Lessons Of Darkness, Stroszek, Little Dieter Needs To Fly, Woyzeck and My Best Fiend and Fandor will be releasing one new title each week leading up to the release, each in HD. Of that lot, I've only seen Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo before,...

There are filmmakers and then there's Werner Herzog, with his distinctive, unique form of features and documentaries carving out a special place in cinematic history. His oeuvre is large and you might not know where to begin or how to start. But don't worry, Shout Factory has you covered. The home video company is issuing a limited edition (only 5,000 copies!) box set, "Herzog: The Collection," featuring 16 of his acclaimed films and documentaries, 15 of which are making their Blu-ray debuts. Damn. The movies included are: "Even Dwarfs Started Small," "Land of Silence and Darkness," "Fata Morgana," "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser," "Heart of Glass," "Stroszek," "Woyzeck," "Nosferatu the Vampyre," "Fitzcarraldo," "Ballad of the Little Soldier," "Where the Green Ants Dream," "Cobra Verde," "Lessons of Darkness," "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" and "My Best Fiend." To hold you over until you can devour those films, here's an extensive,...

Klaus Kinski is genuinely scary as the bloodthirsty Count in Werner Herzog's homage to the 1922 Fw Murnau movie

Werner Herzog's 1979 film Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring Klaus Kinski as the emulsion-faced undead parasite, is now re-released nationally as part of the BFI Southbank Gothic season. It is his homage to the 1922 Fw Murnau movie, conceived and executed with passionate connoisseurship; Herzog develops the first film, making the final sexualised sacrifice more explicit, keeping some original locations and images, and approximating the operatic visual language of Murnau with a new kind of primitivism: strange tableaux, eerie wordless scenes, and juxtaposed, grainy images of bats that directly reference silent moviemaking. Kinski is every bit as bizarre in the leading role; the Count's glittering amour-propre and menace may have a little bit of Mel Brooks about them, but Kinski carries it all off with glassy-eyed fervour and fathomless agony, as the Count...

Telluride, Colo. - In 1975, filmmaker Werner Herzog had films such as "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser," "Even Dwarfs Started Small" and "Signs of Life" under his belt. Tom Luddy went to his fellow Telluride Film Festival co-founders Bill and Stella Pence with the idea to honor him with one of the festival's tributes at the second annual edition. And so the stage was set for a long-lasting relationship. Since 1975, Herzog has returned almost every year with one, sometimes two new films to show. He says he's stopped counting over the years but it must be over 30 presentations he's...

The heroes over at Shout! Factory have recently announced that they'll be remastering and releasing 16—count 'em, 16—films by Werner Herzog in several formats both physical and digital. Shout! will be releasing titles chiefly from Herzog's 70s and '80s back catalog, when the Bavaria-born director was still largely working in German (if not necessarily in Germany, jungles feature pretty heavily in some of these pictures), and their list includes both documentaries, shorts and feature films.Per the official announcement, these “include Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre: The Wrath Of God, Nosferatu The Vampyre, The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser, Woyzeck, Heart Of Glass, Cobra Verde, Stroszek, Fata Morgana, Little Dieter Needs To Fly, Lessons Of Darkness, Ballad Of The Little Soldier, Land Of Silence And Darkness as well as several other acclaimed titles." Anyone with a grasp of counting will conclude that “several” here equals three, and they are: “Where...

Aguirre, The Wrath of God starring Klaus Kinski is one of the films in the Herzog/Shout! Factory agreement.

Shout! Factory and Werner Herzog Film Gmbh have announced an exclusive, multi-picture alliance for 16 Werner Herzog film titles, all of which are currently being re-mastered in high-definition for new edition releases in North America.

This multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory extensive rights for the films, including digital distribution, home video and broadcast for cross-platform releases. The titles include Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Woyzeck, Heart of Glass, Cobra Verde, Stroszek, Fata Morgana, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Lessons of Darkness, Ballad of the Little Soldier, Land of Silence and Darkness, as well as several other acclaimed titles.

Shout! Factory plans an aggressive rollout of these movies through physical home entertainment releases and a variety of digital entertainment distribution platforms. The label and...

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Ender's Game writer Orson Scott Card, the man who so endeared himself with his thoughts on gay marriage, has written a 3,000 word essay comparing Obama to Hitler.

We've had romzoms. We've had romzomcoms. And now stand by for the first bolzom, as classic Romero flick Night of the Living Dead gets a Bollywood remake.

A Thai anti-censorship documentary nobody thought would be passed by the censors has in fact been passed by Thai censors.

The writer/producer of The Innocence of Muslims has been released from prison.

In a statement just begging to get tested, Idris Elba says he'd do anything to be in the Inbetweeners movie sequel.

Universal Studios has launched a fellowship for aspiring writers.

Denmark has submitted...

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News headlines today

We'll be honest: it's a little light. But we will be further investigating these:

Darren Aronofsky is in early talks to direct an adaptation of Red Sparrow, based on the Jason Matthews spy novel.

The Angelina-Jolie-is-Kay-Scarpetta movie is looking more likely since some complicated-sounding re-negotiation by Patricia Cornwell on the novels.

The Thor sequel is apparently still shooting scenes to ramp up the time devoted to Tom Hiddleston's Loki.

Remember Vin Diesel's cryptic hints at Comic-Con about doing something massive with Marvel? He's still being a bit of a tease.

Jennifer Garner has joined Halle Berry in the fight for tougher anti-paparazzi laws.

Lee Daniels has revealed libertine details of his days as a manager to actors...

Werner Herzog's take on the story of a semi-feral youth who turned up in 19th-century Nuremberg stays true in fact and spirit with the casting of the unforgettable Bruno Schleinstein

Director: Werner Herzog

Entertainment grade: A

History grade: A–

In 1828, an unknown and semi-feral youth turned up in the German town of Nuremberg. He could barely speak or walk and could only write a name: Kaspar Hauser. The mystery made him a celebrity across Europe.

People

Werner Herzog's film begins precisely as Hauser himself described his origins, once he began to speak. He claimed to have been imprisoned in a cellar for his entire life, given bread and water and allowed no possessions apart from a wooden toy horse. Finally, a man appeared who taught him to say one sentence – "I want to be a cavalryman, as my father was" – and the word "horse". The man left him...

Davide Manuli’s new take on the historical Kaspar Hauser story previously adapted by Werner Herzog (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) features Vincent Gallo as both an English-speaking The Sheriff and an Italian-speaking bell-bottomed The Pusher. I’m a huge fan of Herzog’s film, but Manuli’s second film The Legend Of Kaspar Hauser (La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser), weird as hell, is a quirky Techno Western depicting surreal humor from obscure scenes. The mysterious titular character is played by a flat-chested stage actress Silvia Calderoni, while Claudia Gerini stars as The Duchess, Fabrizio Gifuni as The Priest, and Elisa Sednaoui as The Psychic. Gallo delivers a solid performance,...

Click to continue reading Trailers For The Legend Of Kaspar Hauser, Starring Vincent Gallo on http://www.filmofilia.com...

Top 10 suffer against summery competition, but multi-platform release for Ben Wheatley's civil war drama is hailed a success

The winner

Blazing skies across the UK and the two most-watched TV programmes of the year provided formidable alternatives to cinemagoing at the weekend. Box-office fell hard, especially on Sunday when the Murray-Djokovic Wimbledon men's final peaked at 17.3m viewers. Murray's previous match, Friday's semi-final against Jerzy Janowicz, peaked at 13.2m viewers.

Despicable Me 2 posted the smallest decline in the top 10 – down 60% from the previous weekend – for a 12-day cumulative total of £22.9m. That figure already puts the film ahead of the total lifetime gross of £20.2m for the original Despicable Me.

Despicable Me 2's decline compares unfavourably with many previous animated hits – Toy Story 3 fell just 29% in its second frame – although not many faced the particular challenges presented at the weekend. Based on the relative amounts grossed...

Perhaps Werner Herzog's captivating study of a mysterious innocent has added relevance in the era of the Fritzl case

Werner Herzog's captivating The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, now on re-release, has the elegance and simplicity of a woodcut. It is based on the true story of a 16-year-old youth who appeared out of nowhere in a German square in 1828 like an unwanted pet; having apparently been imprisoned and beaten as a child, he is all but savage, but nonetheless is taught to speak and reason by kindly townsfolk and briefly taken up by fashionable society. Remarkably played by Bruno S, a former mental-hospital inmate, Herzog's Kaspar Hauser is arguably a figure to compare with, say, Greystoke or The Elephant Man: a test case for finding nobility and perfectibility in any human being, or more importantly in the human society in which he finds himself. But perhaps now...

★★★★☆ Rereleased to tie in with a two-month retrospective at BFI Southbank, it's been almost forty years since Werner Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) debuted on screens. Although a little obtuse and raggedy at times, this beguiling and fable-like yarn sits within his finest work. Loosely based on a real-life tale, the film follows Kaspar Hauser (Bruno Schleinstein) who has spent the first seventeen years of his life chained up like an animal in a confined, grotty cellar. One day, the young man is mysteriously released into captivity, taught some phrases and how to walk, and taken to the town of Nuremberg.

Unsurprisingly, Hauser's looked upon as a genuine curio by the inquisitive townsfolk, and finds himself being entered into the freak show of a travelling circus, before a kindly Professor Daumer (Walter Ladengast) adopts him. Under close scrutiny from the authorities, Hauser appears to be a savant of sorts.

Through June and July, the BFI Southbank are running a Werner Herzog retrospective, and next month his 1974 film, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, will be getting a UK release. The first of the Bavarian director’s classic films to be receiving a nationwide re-release, however, is 1972’s Aguirre, Wrath of God. Anyone who’s seen the film before will already be well aware of its majesty and how great it would look on the big screen. But if you haven’t seen the film before then you’re in for a treat.

Shot on location in the Amazonian jungle, Herzog’s ambitious film marked his first collaboration with the notoriously volatile Klaus Kinski. The story of the pair’s relationship on-set has become infamous, and perhaps as well-known as the movie itself – Herzog threatened to shoot Kinski in the head and kill then kill himself if the actor walked off...