Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog (German: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈhɛʁtsoːk]; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, author, and documentarian. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. His film-making process involves avoiding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing his cast and crew into real situations mirroring those in the film on which they are working. He has received numerous accolades including a Silver Bear Award, four Awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award.

In 1961, when Herzog was 19, he started work on his first film, Herakles. He is known for his collaborations with the actor Klaus Kinski, whom he directed in the films Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre, Woyzeck (both 1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987) and chronicled their tumultuous relationship in the documentary film My Best Fiend (1999). Other films he has directed include The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Invincible (2001), and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) as well as the documentary films Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), and Into the Abyss (2011).

Herzog has also published over 12 books of prose, including the autobiography Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir (2022) and directed over two dozen operas. He has acted in a number of films and television series, often as a fictionalised version of himself, including Incident at Loch Ness (2004), The Grand (2007), The Boondocks (2010), The Simpsons (2011-2021), Jack Reacher, American Dad!, Metalocalypse (all 2012), the English dub of The Wind Rises (2013), Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Parks and Recreation, Rick and Morty (both 2015), and The Mandalorian (2019).

French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive". American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular". Herzog and his films have received recognition from the Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Directors Guild of America, Sundance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and two Emmys. He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time in 2009.