Looks like the producer of the original, who owns the righs, wants to make a franchise out of this. But what has Herzog done wrong?
—
MK: So, Werner, are you making Bad Lieutenant?
WH: No, because I’ve done it.
MK: But it’s not a remake, is it?
WH: No, it’s not, although I cannot fully verify it because I have never seen Bad Lieutenant made by Abel Ferrara. I do not know who the man is, although he has made a lot of noise about this. Only the producer, Ed Pressman, who owns the rights to the title and was apparently planning to do some sort of franchise out of it, named it Bad Lieutenant. I added the subtitle, Port of Call New Orleans, because it takes place in New Orleans. And the leading actor in this is Nicolas Cage, with whom I had a wonderful working relationship. I took him where he has not been before.
Yeah, fighting the windmills in the same way that Herzog once did.
Jacob Silverman
16 years ago
In that interview Herzog doesn’t come across like a nice person, but what is he really doing wrong? I have sympathy for Abel Ferrara, but sadly this is how movies work. They’re not purely artistic endeavors. They’re collaborative projects, almost always made in order to make money, with a strong artistic component. If Herzog were a more generous person, he’d probably have talked with Ferrara or chosen a different project, but to say he’s “selling out” just seems like silly reductionism. Does that term really mean anything?
The 8-word line of dialog that Keitel’s character utters while standing on the driver’s of the young woman’s car, while onanizing, has entered the pantheon of catchphrases I use with my chums (along with the trivia, true or not, that the young woman with the open mouth was played by Harvey’s daughter). The orig BL was a lumpy masterpiece (until that sentimental bit at the end, with those gang thugs improbably weeping)… Herzog sold whatever was left of his to sell when he did that Hollywood war flick with Bale and he will, without a doubt, mess this up.
Looks like the producer of the original, who owns the righs, wants to make a franchise out of this. But what has Herzog done wrong?
—
MK: So, Werner, are you making Bad Lieutenant?
WH: No, because I’ve done it.
MK: But it’s not a remake, is it?
WH: No, it’s not, although I cannot fully verify it because I have never seen Bad Lieutenant made by Abel Ferrara. I do not know who the man is, although he has made a lot of noise about this. Only the producer, Ed Pressman, who owns the rights to the title and was apparently planning to do some sort of franchise out of it, named it Bad Lieutenant. I added the subtitle, Port of Call New Orleans, because it takes place in New Orleans. And the leading actor in this is Nicolas Cage, with whom I had a wonderful working relationship. I took him where he has not been before.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/26/werner-herzog-interview
This does not look like it was directed by Herzog. It looks like it was directed by Tyler Perry. Cage is a joke.
Q: Have you talked to him?
Herzog: No. I have no idea who Abel Ferrara is. But let him fight the windmills, like Don Quixote.
http://defamer.gawker.com/395038/defiant-werner-herzog-to-defamer-who-is-abel-ferrara
Yeah, fighting the windmills in the same way that Herzog once did.
In that interview Herzog doesn’t come across like a nice person, but what is he really doing wrong? I have sympathy for Abel Ferrara, but sadly this is how movies work. They’re not purely artistic endeavors. They’re collaborative projects, almost always made in order to make money, with a strong artistic component. If Herzog were a more generous person, he’d probably have talked with Ferrara or chosen a different project, but to say he’s “selling out” just seems like silly reductionism. Does that term really mean anything?
The 8-word line of dialog that Keitel’s character utters while standing on the driver’s of the young woman’s car, while onanizing, has entered the pantheon of catchphrases I use with my chums (along with the trivia, true or not, that the young woman with the open mouth was played by Harvey’s daughter). The orig BL was a lumpy masterpiece (until that sentimental bit at the end, with those gang thugs improbably weeping)… Herzog sold whatever was left of his to sell when he did that Hollywood war flick with Bale and he will, without a doubt, mess this up.
I just watched the trailer. Let me re-phrase that: he did, without a doubt, mess this up.