Werner Herzog Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Cinematical has just received these exclusive stills from Werner Herzog's kinda-sorta remake of Abel Ferrara's dirty, foul-mouthed 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel as a sick, sadistic, drug-addicted cop who's investigating the rape of a young nun. Updated for the "We'll Try Anything Twice" generation, Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans stars Nicolas Cage as our dirty, violent, sex-charged corrupt cop who's apparently in charge of investigating the killings of five Senegalese immigrants when he's not busy breaking the law in a variety of disgusting and distasteful ways.

The film, which screened at the Telluride Film Festival and is about to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, seems to be drawing a number of fascinating reactions from critics. Our own Eugene Novikov had this to say in his review: "If you're a fan of this genre, this could be your chance to watch a smart filmmaker take it in some strange and interesting directions; if you're not, this is your chance to watch a smart filmmaker make fun of it. If you've been following Nic Cage's increasingly intense scenery-chewing over the last couple years, this is your chance to see it taken to its logical conclusion and beyond. Herzog occasionally makes The Bad Lieutenant feel frivolous, but it's rarely less than fascinating."

Check out a bunch of exclusive images from the film below, and look for it to hit theaters later this year.

It's no secret that Nicolas Cage has been going off the deep end of late. His performances have become increasingly unhinged and harebrained; you never know when the character he's playing will suddenly become apoplectic over something that seems -- no matter what it is, in comparison to the reaction it draws -- relatively minor. This almost singlehandedly ruined this year's Knowing, at heart a decent science-fiction flick rendered nearly unwatchable by Cage's fevered overacting. It's no coincidence that Cage hasn't done a "serious" dramatic performance in more than three years. I shudder to think what that would now look like.

All of which makes me think that Werner Herzog is even smarter than people give him credit for. Having cast Cage in his "remake" of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (I put "remake" in scare quotes as Herzog claims to never have seen Ferrara's film, and the new one has nothing to do with it beyond sharing some bare plot elements), he lets the actor go truly all-out. In The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Cage, playing the titular Lieutenant Terence McDonagh, interrupts himself, has roundtable discussions with himself, cheers himself on, punctuates conversations with non sequitur chuckles and handclaps, and gets hugely angry. It's a completely absurd performance -- and, God willing, a way for the actor to let off steam and return to the more nuanced, settled acting he used to do.

One of the best things about YouTube is that you can find bizarre treasures that fans have lovingly transferred from VHS or Betamax for your viewing pleasure. One of the most fascinating crazycakes actors of all time, Klaus Kinski, is in full effect on YouTube, so I've gathered a few of his most fabulous outbursts for your viewing pleasure.

Author Dennis Cooper has also excerpted on his blog some of the more choice quotes he found online from one of Kinski's books, All I Need is Love. He certainly wasn't lacking for sex, since Kinski, despite his looks and batty tendencies -- or perhaps because of them? -- had a way with the ladies. But I digress. If you think Abel Ferrara's choice words for Herzog, Kinski's frequent collaborator and frenemy, was bad, check this out:

Now I absolutely despise the murderer Herzog. I tell him to his face that I want to see him perish like the llama he executed. He should be thrown to the crocodiles alive! An anaconda should throttle him slowly! The sting of a deadly spider should paralyze him! His brain should burst from the bite of the most poisonous of all snakes! Panthers shouldn't slit his throat open with their claws, that would be too good for him! No. Big red ants should piss in his eyes, eat his balls, penetrate his asshole, and eat his guts! He should get the plague! Syphilis! Malaria! Yellow fever! Leprosy! In vain. The more I wish the most horrible of deaths on him and treat him like the scum of the earth that he is, the less I can get rid of him!

YouTube crazy time after the jump!

Hearing that Werner Herzog and David Lynch were teaming up for a guerrilla-style project back in 2008 sounded too weird to be true. Granted, the former would be directing while the latter would just produce and present, but still -- it's a merging that seems too epic for one small film. It might be epic, but if the trailer is any indication, it'll also be quite good. After the jump you can check out the first trailer for My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, which will premiere at TIFF next month.

Inspired by a true story, My Son focuses on an aspiring actor performing Sophocles, who then acts out the play by killing his mother. "The mystery unfolds in a series of flashbacks displaying the psychological destruction of the killer set off by an ill-fated white-water kayaking trip in a distant land." (Synopsis over at Collider.) I'm not sure how that all fits together -- a mystery about the why rather than the who of the killing -- but I can't say I care. I'm hooked.

That being said, must we still be presented with trailers boasting ridiculous voiceovers? It's quite apparent that there's a lot of goodness in My Son, and it doesn't really need the deep, somber voice explaining about the unexpected crime on a quiet street. It makes the whole thing sound ridiculous, rather than wholly intriguing with a cast that boasts Michael Shannon, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, Michael Pena, Udo Kier, and the wonderful Grace Zabriskie.

We already learned that Keanu Reeves is ready to tap into his foodie side for David Fincher's Chef, but could this culinary fan take it a step further? Contact Music reports that Reeves has become enamored with Herve This and his book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour. The actor said: "I'm dabbling in it and looking at becoming a chef. He is fantastic. I didn't really cook before but this book may be changing my life." Jesus... Talk about jumping right in. For those unfamiliar, molecular gastronomy is cooking by means of science -- not exactly the ease of a fried egg.

I can't help but wonder if this is all just part of his prep for Chef, and if it is, that makes me a bit more interested in the whole production. The thought of Reeves taking on a food-loving comedy was hurting my foodie heart, but if he is actually learning the subtle and intricate science of food? My interest is piqued.

Meanwhile, you can head through the jump to see a spoof video about what it might look like if Werner Herzog hosted a cooking show, and got a little help from Jim Jarmusch. The infamous shoe is present, but this time he's whipping up something more palatable.

Bon appetit!

It's almost too obvious that this so-called Bad Lieutenant remake from Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage is destined to become the crack junkie of Netflix a year from now; an instant guilty pleasure -- the sort of film some folks will hate, but some will adore. The original 1992 Bad Lieutenant from Abel Ferrara (and starring Harvey Keitel in the lead) was like a shock to the heart; a gritty, nasty, foul-mouthed dirty cop flick that made you immediately want to take a shower once the end credits began to scroll.

This new version, which carries its own original story and isn't a remake (according to Herzog), definitely looks to keep a lot of the nastiness, but injects it with that odd Cagian humor as well. How can you not laugh at Cage when he spits out sentences like, "What, you don't have a lucky crack pipe?" Eva Mendes (reteaming with her Ghost Rider co-star), Val Kilmer and rapper-actor Xzibit also star. If anything, this looks like a fun film for those old school Nicolas Cage fans desperate to see the guy take on non-commercial fare for a change. Herzog fans? I don't know what to tell you; this looks nothing like a Herzog film -- though this "trailer" does look like a promotional tool used to help sell the film (at Cannes?) and not an official, finished (and polished) piece of marketing.

But you be the judge -- we've included the trailer after the jump because it's definitely NSFW. Be warned.

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

I suppose everyone's tired of hearing about the Oscars, and so am I, but in my heart of hearts, I'm secretly hoping for three particular wins. The first, Anne Hathaway for Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married (95 screens), will never happen. The second, Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress, may happen (she's currently leading in the IMDB Oscar poll). Cruz represents the one and only nomination for the year's best film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (15 screens). The third is Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World for Best Documentary, which probably won't happen, especially given the awards-friendly Trouble the Water (4 screens) and the hit Man on Wire. The reason I'm excited about this last one is that Herzog has been making films for a full 40 years, is generally regarded as one of the world's great living filmmakers, and has received one and only one Oscar nomination: this one.

Last year, it seemed too strange to be true that Werner Herzog and David Lynch were teaming up for a film together -- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. Almost any other directorial combo I could see, but the minds of Herzog (director) and Lynch (producer)? Merging directorial quirks is one thing, but when two men have distinct visions and artistic sense, that isn't the most stable situation. Who wins out when grizzlies face backward-talking little people?

Surprisingly enough, the project is still in motion, and it's definitely not featuring any common Lynch players. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Michael Peña (Lions for Lambs), Brad Dourif (Humboldt County), and Bill Cobbs (Night at the Museum) have joined a cast that already includes Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Chloe Sevigny.

The last three aren't big surprises (but very welcome and excellent choices) since each has had their share of alternative feature work, but the first three definitely suggest that this won't be your typical film from either filmmaker. And man, it's nice to see Pena getting busy with a meaty project that isn't about war. This time around, the film is a loose adaptation of a story of "a San Diego man who experiences a series of mystifying events that lead him to brutally murder his own mother with a sword."

Here's to hoping at least some of the wacky events are helmed by Lynch, or, at the very least, we get a Angelo Badalmenti score.

Here's a round-up of some stuff (and things) currently making waves online ...

-- The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly features the pretty faces of Zachary Quinto (as Spock) and Chris Pine (as Kirk) in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek (due out this winter May). When the mag hits stands on Friday, look for enough behind the scenes photos to make any Trekker blush. [via Just Jared] Also, JoBlo has debuted the first image of the film's main villain, Nero. Check it out below, then larger over at The Blo.



And then there's this one of Spock choking the sh*t out of some poor soul from AICN ...



And from UGO, here's the entire cast ...



More Trek at TrekMovie.com and IGN and MTV.

-- Variety reviews the buzzed-about Frost/Nixon from London: "Although it all pays off in a potent and revelatory final act rife with insights into the psychology and calculations of power players, the initial stretch is rather dry and prosaic." InContention gives it two stars. Perhaps this Oscar lock just came undone, home-skillet.

-- On Werner Herzog remaking his Bad Lieutenant, director Abel Ferrara tells Filmmaker Magazine, "He can die in hell. I hate these people – they suck. A, he don't know me, couldn't pick me out of a line-up. B, I'm chasing windmills. Well, I'd rather chase windmills than steal other people's ideas. It's lame. I can't believe Nic Cage is trying to play that part. I mean, if the kid needed the money..."

-- Steven Soderbergh has cast porn star Sasha Grey in the lead role of his new film, The Girlfriend Experience. First Kevin Smith, now Soderbergh -- porn has gone mainstream, baby! The film is said to follow the life of a high-priced call girl and was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean's 13). [via Variety]

With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Elisabeth Rappe, geeks are not the only ones who learned important lessons from watching movies this summer. Herewith is my personal, arthouse summer school summary.

Werner Herzog cast a disapproving eye on the ugliness he discovered at Antarctica's McMurdo Station ("they even have a yoga studio and an ATM!") and was skeptical about the sanity of some of the real-life characters he met, which is partly why Encounters at the End of the World was so entrancing. What I learned: Evidence for gay penguins is skimpy, but they have been known to have threesomes.

The Wackness (pictured) didn't became the breakout hit that some had hoped for, but it did showcase the talents of rising star Olivia Thirlby and director Jonathan Levine. What I learned: Never kiss Ben Kingsley in a telephone booth.

Nanette Burstein's filmmaking techniques were much more off-putting than her ultimately winning subjects in American Teen, another would-be smash that didn't live up to box office expectations. What I learned: Never break up with your girlfriend via text message, especially when a documentary filmmaker is interviewing her.

Unexpectedly, Tell No One became the breakout limited-release mystery thrill ride of the summer, and Man on Wire proved that impassioned high wire walkers can make dreams come true and enthrall audiences to boot. What I learned: It's good to be French.

Now it's your turn, all you indie-loving, doc-devoted, world cinema aficionados: what did you learn from the movies this summer?