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Werner Herzog

Director

Werner Herzog

Born September 5, 1942 in Munich, Allemagne75 films

Werner Herzog (German: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈhɛɐ̯tsoːk]; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films.

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Herzog started work on his first film Herakles in 1961, when he was nineteen. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature films and documentaries, such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Cobra Verde (1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Invincible (2000), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010). He has published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.

French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive." American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009.

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The best way into Werner Herzog's work
Grizzly Man posterFirst watchGrizzly Man20057.5Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster7.4Aguirre, the Wrath of God1972Fitzcarraldo poster7.6Fitzcarraldo1982Nosferatu the Vampyre poster7.3Nosferatu the Vampyre1979Rescue Dawn poster7.0Rescue Dawn2007Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans poster6.2Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans2009The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser poster7.3The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser1974Encounters at the End of the World poster7.5Encounters at the End of the World2007Stroszek poster7.3Stroszek1977

Filmography

75 films as director
  1. TBAThe Twilight WorldDirector
  2. 2026Bucking FastardDirector
  3. 2026Ghost ElephantsDirector
  4. 2024Theater of ThoughtDirector
  5. 2024The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice KrafftDirector
  6. 2020Fireball: Visitors from Darker WorldsDirector
  7. 2019Family Romance, LLCDirector
  8. 2019Meeting GorbachevDirector
  9. 2019Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce ChatwinDirector
  10. 2016Salt and FireDirector
  11. 2016Into the InfernoDirector
  12. 2016Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected WorldDirector
  13. 2015Queen of the DesertDirector
  14. 2013From One Second to the NextDirector
  15. 2012The Killers: UnstagedDirector
  16. 2011Into the AbyssDirector
  17. 2011Ode to the Dawn of ManDirector
  18. 2010Cave of Forgotten DreamsDirector
  19. 2010Happy People: A Year in the TaigaDirector
  20. 2010My Son, My Son, What Have Ye DoneDirector
  21. 2009Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansDirector
  22. 2009La BohèmeDirector
  23. 2007Encounters at the End of the WorldDirector
  24. 2007Rescue DawnDirector
  25. 2005The Wild Blue YonderDirector
  26. 2005Grizzly ManDirector
  27. 2004The White DiamondDirector
  28. 2003Wheel of TimeDirector
  29. 2002Ten Thousand Years OlderDirector
  30. 2002Ten Minutes Older: The TrumpetDirector
  31. 2001InvincibleDirector
  32. 2001PilgrimageDirector
  33. 1999Wings of HopeDirector
  34. 1999My Best FiendDirector
  35. 1997Little Dieter Needs to FlyDirector
  36. 1996The Transformation of the World Into MusicDirector
  37. 1995Gesualdo: Death for Five VoicesDirector
  38. 1993Bells from the DeepDirector
  39. 1992La Donna del LagoDirector
  40. 1992Lessons of DarknessDirector
  41. 1991Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of UdaipurDirector
  42. 1991Scream of StoneDirector
  43. 1990Echoes from a Sombre EmpireDirector
  44. 1989Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the SunDirector
  45. 1989Giovanna d'ArcoDirector
  46. 1988The French as Seen by…Director
  47. 1988The GaulsDirector
  48. 1987Cobra VerdeDirector
  49. 1986Portrait: Werner HerzogDirector
  50. 1985The Dark Glow of the MountainsDirector
  51. 1984Ballad of the Little SoldierDirector
  52. 1984Where the Green Ants DreamDirector
  53. 1983God's Angry ManDirector
  54. 1983Huie's SermonDirector
  55. 1982FitzcarraldoDirector
  56. 1979WoyzeckDirector
  57. 1979Nosferatu the VampyreDirector
  58. 1977La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable CatastropheDirector
  59. 1977StroszekDirector
  60. 1976Heart of GlassDirector
  61. 1976How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck ChuckDirector
  62. 1976No One Will Play with MeDirector
  63. 1974The Enigma of Kaspar HauserDirector
  64. 1974The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver SteinerDirector
  65. 1972Aguirre, the Wrath of GodDirector
  66. 1972Fata MorganaDirector
  67. 1971Land of Silence and DarknessDirector
  68. 1971Even Dwarfs Started SmallDirector
  69. 1971Handicapped FutureDirector
  70. 1970The Flying Doctors of East AfricaDirector
  71. 1969Precautions Against FanaticsDirector
  72. 1968Signs of LifeDirector
  73. 1968Last WordsDirector
  74. 1967The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress DeutschkreuzDirector
  75. 1962HeraklesDirector