Werner Herzog at the BFI

It was not a significant bullet.

The Werner Herzog Q&A at the British Film Institute last  Monday was both exhilarating and revelatory. Herzog first introduced a preview screening of his new documentary about Antarctica, Encounters at the End of the World, and was later interviewed onstage by Mark Kermode.

The interview was one of the best I've seen at the BFI. Herzog is a skilled raconteur whose stoicism and grim realism ("I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder," as he growled famously in Grizzly Man) is tempered by generosity and mischievous humour.  Kermode—the UK's favourite bequiffed, skiffle-playing, horror aficionado—is an experienced interviewer with deep film knowledge and approachable humanity. There was evident warmth between them (Herzog was shot during an interview with Kermode a couple of years ago, so they're practically war buddies) that was enjoyable to witness.

I tried to memorise my favourite of Herzog's comments, but thankfully The Guardian has now published a transcript of the evening. Here are a couple of my favourite moments, beginning with Kermode's question about the acrimonious relationship between Herzog and his muse Klaus Kinski, and their mutual death threats during the filming of his masterwork Fitzcarraldo:

MK: What did you actually say?
WH: Very quietly, as he was packing his things, I said that he would have eight bullets through his head before he reached the next bend of the river. Which was probably an exaggeration. I would have missed at least three or four.

Later, Herzog explained that he rarely has a chance to watch films as he's so busy making them:

WH: Two years ago, I think I saw a grand total of two films, both of them very bad, but very healthy because only from bad films I could learn.
MK: What were they?
WH: One I've forgotten and ...
MK: You only saw two films and you forgot one of them?

WH: Yes, one was a big Hollywood production, but I don't remember which one it was. The other one was a small Hollywood film, I think it was called The Real Cancun, about young people on spring break. There were eight young hunks and eight young girls, and the only point of the film was who got laid first. It was kind of delightful but it wasn't such a good film either.

Och, I laughed so hard I hurt myself.