Synopsis
For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career, Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man’s attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, made more perilous by Herzog’s determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of native Indians to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain. The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded mission of one of cinema’s most fearless directors.
Cast
| Werner Herzog | |
| Klaus Kinski | |
| Claudia Cardinale | |
| Jason Robards | |
| Mick Jagger |
Credits
| Director | Les Blank |
| Sound | Maureen Gosling |
| Editing | Maureen Gosling |
| Producer | Les Blank |
| Cinematography | Les Blank |
| Interpreting, interviewing, and camera assisstance | Bruce "Pacho" Lane |
| Interviewing and camera and sound assistance | Michael Goodwin |
| Narration written by | Michael Goodwin |
| Narration spoken by | Candace Laughlin |
| Editing assistance and office management | Chris Simon |
| Research | Chris Simon and John Lumsdaine |
| Translations | Francisca Wentworth, Inez Reider and Richard Becker |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary by director Les Blank, editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and Fitzcarraldo director Werner Herzog
- Dreams and Burdens, a new 38-minute video interview with Herzog
- Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), a 20-minute film by Blank featuring Herzog fulfilling a bet
- Deleted scenes
- Photo gallery of images taken by Gosling
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Plus: A new essay by film scholar Paul Arthur and an 80-page book of excerpts from Blank’s and Gosling’s production journals
From the Current
WELCOME (BACK) TO THE JUNGLE
Jun 30, 2009Quick, how many directors can you name who have pulled a 320-ton steamship over a mountain? Yes, that megalomaniacal masterpiece Fitzcarraldo is just further proof that Werner Herzog stands alone in the annals of filmmaking. And though this tireless artist is still regularly creating . . .
Burden of Dreams:
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
by
May 9, 2005
A shot of a street sign near the beginning of Always for Pleasure, Les Blank’s 1978 paean to New Orleans music, cooking, and dance, offers a telling contrast with the mood of Burden . . .
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