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Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (1942 - present) is a German film director/producer/writer/actor and now a teacher of his own 'rogue' film school; he is also a director of Opera in several European Opera houses as well as a writer of: several Essays (such as 'Pilgrimage' - which is included with his wife's photography collection of the same title), Poetry collections and memoirs, such as 'Of Walking in Ice' and 'Conquest of the Useless' detailing his time on the set of his epic film 'Fitzcarraldo' and the relationship with Klaus Kinski.
Herzog is commonly recognised by international critics as one of the great cinematic auteur's, Francois Truffaut hailed him 'as the most important alive'. Throughout his career he has maintained a traditional 'pure cinema' filming style, making what he wants independently and on shoe string budgets with minimalist crew; and is the only film director to have made a feature film in every continent of the world.
Many critics have connected the Bavarian born film-maker with German Romanticism, however Herzog denies this as he feels his work has been inspired by his unique limited experiences of cinema - watching an average of 3-4 films a year, and mixture of eclectic cultural studies, varying from Virgil's epic poems to Monteverdi's music - among many others.
Herzog's personal life and the lifestyle of film making surrounding his reputation is a mixture of misinterpretations and speculation, Herzog like his once leading man - Klaus Kinski- has been the subject of much controversial rumour (sometimes true and others entirely false), such as the death threat on Kinski to saving Joaquin Phoenix from a car crash.
Herzog remains one of the most prolific film makers of our time, constantly continuing to work regardless of his audience's reception or producers thoughts - forever demanding the final cut.



News | What members say | Filmography

Werner Herzog - news / articles


  • Herzog to step in front of the camera to play Cruise villain - 4 October 2011
    -Acclaimed moviemaker Werner Herzog has signed on to play the villain in Tom Cruise's new action thriller One Shot.-The Rescue Dawn director, who has only made cameos in 16 films, has joined Richard Jenkins, Rosamund Pike and Robert Duvall among Cruise's co-stars in th


  • Herzog: The Explorer - 6 September 2010
    -Filmmakers’ reputations ebb and flow with the years, but few could have predicted the extraordinary twists and turns in Werner Herzog’s career, or the astonishing productivity that would coincide with his sixth decade.- -This week sees the release of


  • WIN! A My Son, My Son Poster Signed by Werner Herzog - 6 September 2010
    - -If you’ve ever wondered what a David Lynch and Werner Herzog collaboration would turn out like, then wonder no more. These two heavyweights have teamed up for the exciting new release of My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done?, out now.- -And to celebrate this

Werner Herzog - what members say


  • Werner Herzog Box Set 1
  • Werner Herzog Box Set 1 review by zimmerman from Ossett
    Rated - 3.0 stars richard the third and the heart of darkness 1 April 2009
    ...ountain it's weirdly gripping, and reminds you why you'd never want to work for Werner Herzog. ...   Read customer review
  • Wheel Of Time
  • Wheel Of Time review by Savage from London, England
    Rated - 3.0 stars A lovely film, but light on facts 14 September 2007
    ...Most, if not all of Werner Herzog's films, both the features and the documentaries, could be said to be about a quest for a spiritual dimension in life. But most, if not al...   Read customer review
  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly
  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly review by from London
    Rated - 4.0 stars Entertaining 22 November 2007
    ...I don't know if its Werner Herzog's masterful filmmaking, or just that Dieter himself is such a character, but I enjoyed this documentary more than others of its ilk. Told ...   Read customer review

Werner Herzog - filmography


  • Dinotasia on DVD (2012)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: David Krentz,  Erik Nelson
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    See Dinosaurs as you've never seen them before in this exciting new film that combines cutting-edge effects and extraordinary scientific discoveries to breathe new life into these legendary beasts. Against stunning backdrops that span Jurassic times through to the Ice Age, this ground-breaking film ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 47% from 64 members
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  • Jack Reacher on DVD (2012)
    Starring: Werner Herzog,  David Oyelowo,  Robert Duvall
    Director: Christopher McQuarrie
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Mystery crime drama starring Tom Cruise and Rosamund Pike. Adapted from a novel in Lee Child's best-selling crime series, the film sees Cruise in the title role as an ex-military policeman turned vigilante drifter who is called in to investigate after an expert sniper takes the lives of five random ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 2,528 members
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  • Into the Abyss on DVD (2011)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Intimate interviews and life stories of several people involved in the life of an inmate condemned to death in a Texas prison.
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 2,288 members
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  • Into the Abyss - Blu-ray (2011)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
    Intimate interviews and life stories of several people involved in the life of an inmate condemned to death in a Texas prison.
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 622 members
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  • Cave of Forgotten Dreams on DVD (2010)
    Starring: Charles Fathy,  Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.
    3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 2,381 members
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  • Happy People - A Year in Taiga on DVD (2010)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog,  Dmitry Vasyukov
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Documentary following a year in the lives of the indigenous people of the Siberian Taiga. Narrated by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog, the film follows a hunter from the small village of Bakhtia through four complete seasons, most of which are filled with harsh weather and hostile ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 213 members
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  • Encounters In The Natural World (4 discs) on DVD (2009)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    A collection of five documentaries about the natural world by film-maker Werner Herzog. In 'Encounters at the End of the World' (2007) Herzog travels to Antarctica accompanied only by his cinematographer to explore the unique landscape and history of the world's most southerly continent, and to ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 75% from 150 members
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  • Encounters at the End of the World on DVD (2009)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Werner Herzog confirms his standing as poet laureate of men in extreme situations with "Encounters at the End of the World." In this visually stunning exploration, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science Foundation and home to 1,100 people ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 2,769 members
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  • Wagner - Lohengrin - Schneider on DVD (2008)
    Starring: Peter Schneide
    Director: Brian Large,  Werner Herzog,  Brian Large
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    Wagner's Lohengrin is presented here in a Bayreuth Festival production staged by renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, with Peter Scheider conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchesta. The production features Cheryl Studer as Elsa, Paul Frey as Lohengrin, as well as Gabriele Schnaut, Ekkehard Wlaschiha ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 62 members
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  • Encounters At The End Of The World - Blu-ray (2008)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Documentary by German director Werner Herzog, in which the filmmaker travels to Antarctica accompanied only by his cinematographer to explore the unique landscape and history of the world's most southerly continent, and to meet some of the people who live and work there including scientists of ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 945 members
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  • Rescue Dawn - Blu-ray (2007)
    Starring: Francois Chau,  Mr. Tony B. King,  Marshall Bell
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog directs this action drama telling the true story of downed Vietnam pilot Dieter Dengler. Based on the director's 1997 documentary 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly', the film follows Dengler (Christian Bale) as he fulfils his lifelong dream by making his way to the ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 2,427 members
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  • The Grand (2007)
    Starring: Julie Claire,  David Cross,  Shannon Elizabeth
    Director: Zak Penn
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Set around an international poker tournament. A middle-aged guy goes all-in to save his dead grandfather's hotel-casino from a real estate developer. His master plan is to win the world's most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.
    2.5 stars out of 5 50% from 3 members
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  • Mister Lonely on DVD (2007)
    Starring: Diego Luna,  Samantha Morton,  Denis Lavant
    Director: Harmony Korine,  Harmony Korine
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    In Paris, a young American (Luna) who works as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe (Morton), who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin (Lavant) and her daughter, Shirley Temple.
    2.5 stars out of 5 49% from 942 members
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  • Loser on DVD (2007)
    Starring: Werner Herzog,  Julie Claire,  Woody Harrelson
    Director: Zak Penn
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Kak Penn directs this semi-improvised mockumentary comedy set during a poker tournament in Las Vegas. The cast, working from a bare-bones script, includes Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Dennis Farina, Cheryl Hines and Richard Kind, as well as legendary film director Werner Herzog, playing a ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 54% from 25 members
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  • Loser - Blu-ray (2007)
    Starring: Werner Herzog,  Julie Claire,  Woody Harrelson
    Director: Zak Penn
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Kak Penn directs this semi-improvised mockumentary comedy set during a poker tournament in Las Vegas. The cast, working from a bare-bones script, includes Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Dennis Farina, Cheryl Hines and Richard Kind, as well as legendary film director Werner Herzog, playing a ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 47% from 39 members
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  • Grizzly Man - Blu-ray (2005)
    Starring: Timothy Treadwell
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Documentary from acclaimed director Werner Herzog which explores the life and death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell lived unarmed among the bears for 13 summers and filmed his adventures in the wild during his final five seasons. In October ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 655 members
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  • Grizzly Man on DVD (2005)
    Starring: Timothy Treadwell
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Documentary from acclaimed director Werner Herzog which explores the life and death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell lived unarmed among the bears for 13 summers and filmed his adventures in the wild during his final five seasons. In October ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 64% from 17,491 members
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  • The Wild Blue Yonder on DVD (2005)
    Starring: Brad Dourif,  Capt. Donald Williams,  Dr. Ellen Baker
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    The film follows a hypothetical proposition: a group of astronauts are circling the earth in a spacecraft, but they cannot return, as our planet has become uninhabitable. The cause of this is a mystery. The crew of the spacecraft has to find a more hospitable place out there in space, and releases ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 49% from 878 members
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  • Wheel Of Time on DVD (2005)
    Starring: Dalai Lama
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    Wheel of Time is acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog's (Grizzly Man, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo) gorgeously photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India. Herzog magically captures the lengthy pilgrimage (which for some, is over 3,000 miles), the monk's creation of ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 550 members
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  • The White Diamond on DVD (2004)
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Feature documentary film directed, produced and written by Werner Herzog about scientist Dr Graham Dorrington and his attempt to fly the unique man-powered airship he invented himself across the Amazon canopy of Guyana in 1992. The hope was that he would be able to locate and study the medicinal ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 524 members
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  • The White Diamond - Blu-ray (2004)
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Feature documentary film directed, produced and written by Werner Herzog about scientist Dr Graham Dorrington and his attempt to fly the unique man-powered airship he invented himself across the Amazon canopy of Guyana in 1992. The hope was that he would be able to locate and study the medicinal ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 265 members
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  • Invincible on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Tim Roth,  Jouko Ahola,  Anna Gourari
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    The film is based on the true story of Zishe Breitbart, a Jewish blacksmith's son from Poland who becomes a sensation in Weimar, Berlin as a mythical strongman. His employer Hanussen dreams of establishing an all-powerful Ministry of the Occult in Hitler's government. Yet as Hitler's hold on power ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 51% from 298 members
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  • Wings of Hope (2000)
    Starring: Werner Herzog,  Juliane Koepcke,  Juan Zaplana Ramirez
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Werner Herzog returns to the South American jungle with Juliane Koepcke, the German woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash there in 1971. They find the remains of the plane and recreate her journey out of the jungle.
    3 stars out of 5 61% from 21 members
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  • Julien Donkey Boy on DVD (1999)
    Starring: Chloe Sevigny,  Werner Herzog,  Chrissy Kobylak
    Director: Harmony Korine,  Harmony Korine
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    The first US film to be made under the Dogme 95 vow of chastity, Harmony Korine's follow up to the controversial 'Gummo' tells the story of schizophrenic Julien (Ewen Bremner), his pregnant sister Pearl (Chloe Sevigny), and their pedantic, over-bearing father (Werner Herzog). Using handheld digital ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 55% from 1,754 member
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  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Dieter Dengler
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" is a documentary about Dieter Dengler, a German who grew up with a passion for flight and emigrated to the U.S. to join the navy and become a pilot during the Vietnam War. Dieter was shot down, captured and tortured before becoming one of the few American prisoners to ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 78% from 1,115 member
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  • Lessons of Darkness (1992)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Footage shot in and around the Sahara Desert, accompanied only by a spoken creation myth and the songs of Leonard Cohen.
    4 stars out of 5 78% from 37 members
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  • Scream Of Stone (1991)
    Starring: Vittorio Mezzogiorno,  Mathilda May,  Brad Dourif
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Werner Herzog's cinema of obsession (Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo) has always owed some of its emotional expressionism to the post-World War I genre of German mountain films (The Blue Light, The White Hell of Pitz-Palu), in which German mountain climbers are compelled to scale the ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 54% from 248 members
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  • Tokyo-Ga (1985)
    Starring: Chishu Ryu,  Werner Herzog,  Yuuharu Atsuta
    Director: Wim Wenders
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Having been moved by the work of acclaimed director Yasujiro Ozu, Wenders travels to Japan to search out the Tokyo he has seen in his films, discovering along the way how the country is losing its identity and culture to Americanisation.
    3.5 stars out of 5 67% from 290 members
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  • Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)
    Starring: Bruce Spence,  Wandjuk Marika,  Roy Marika
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    "Where the Green Ants Dream" is the incredible story of an Aboriginal tribe's struggle to save their sacred grounds from encroaching civilization. They believe that man's so-called reality is no more than the dream of a strange insect indigenous to the Australian continent.
    3 stars out of 5 55% from 15 members
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  • Heart Of Glass on DVD (1976)
    Starring: Clemens Scheitz,  Sepp Muller,  Stefan Guttler
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Heart of Glass (Herz aus Glas) is essentially a treatise by Werner Herzog on the power and importance of art. Director Herzog was known to put his actors through the wringer to get the results he wanted. In this film, Herzog decided that the best way to get his people to dance to the crack of his ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 58% from 834 members
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  • Stroszek on DVD (1976)
    Starring: Eva Mattes,  Bruno S.,  Clemens Scheitz
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Can anything be bleaker than the shabby slums of Berlin? Yes, argues director Werner Herzog in Stroszek: try Wisconsin sometime. Bruno S.. stars as an ex-mental patient who dreams of the so-called promised land of America. He aligns himself with like-minded prostitute Eva Mattes and elderly, near-..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 898 members
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  • Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    Werner Herzog trains his camera on documentary subject Fini Straubinger in this exploratory look at her life as a kind hearted woman who is both deaf and blind. Straubinger has dedicated a large portion of her life caring for those who are similarly afflicted, and Herzog explicitly details both her ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 60% from 14 members
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  • Fata Morgana on DVD (1969)
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    Werner Herzog takes his cameras out to the Sahara in search of a mirage...
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 327 members
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  • Signs of Life (1968)
    Starring: Peter Brogle,  Wolfgang Reichmann,  Athina Zacharopoulou
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    On Crete, a wounded German paratrooper named Stroszek is sent to the quiet city of Kos with his wife Nora, a Greek nurse, and two other soldiers recovering from minor wounds. Billeted in a decaying fortress, they guard a munitions depot. There's little to do: Becker, a classicist, translates ..read more »
    2.5 stars out of 5 50% from 6 members
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  • Encounters In The Natural World - Blu-ray (3 discs)
    Starring: Werner Herzog
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    A collection of five documentaries about the natural world by film-maker Werner Herzog. In 'Encounters at the End of the World' (2007) Herzog travels to Antarctica accompanied only by his cinematographer to explore the unique landscape and history of the world's most southerly continent, and to ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 114 members
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  • Werner Herzog Box Set 2 (5 discs) on DVD
    Starring: Brigitte Mira,  Helmut Doring,  Eva Mattes
    Director: Werner Herzog
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Five films from acclaimed and unconventional German director Werner Herzog, famed for his blending of documentary realism with heightened stylisation, as well as his volatile temper and his obsessive abilities to complete physically demanding shoots in dangerous locations. 'Even Dwarfs Started ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 872 members
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Werner Herzog facts

5 most recent films

Death Row - TV Series - 3.5 stars
Jack Reacher - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Dinotasia - 2.5 stars
Jack Reacher - 3.5 stars
Into the Abyss - 3.5 stars

5 highest-rated films

Little Dieter Needs to Fly - 4.0 stars
Encounters In The Natural World - 4.0 stars
Jack Reacher - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Happy People - A Year in Taiga - 3.5 stars
Wagner - Lohengrin - Schneider - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Walking to Werner - 3 stars
Loser - Blu-ray - 2.5 stars
The Grand - 2.5 stars
Signs of Life - 2.5 stars
Loser - 2.5 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Clemens Scheitz - 9 times - show films
none - 8 times - show films
Eva Mattes - 7 times - show films
Josef Bierbichler - 7 times - show films
Chloe Sevigny - 6 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Wim Wenders - 8 times - show films
Zak Penn - 5 times - show films
Harmony Korine - 4 times - show films
Aki Kaurismaki - 4 times - show films
Harmony Korine - 4 times - show films