1. Werner Herzog Eats His ShoeCopy !req
2. A Film by Les BlankCopy !req
3. We look at the TV, we see
that she's ridiculous and destructive.Copy !req
4. She kills us. The talk-shows
they kill us, they kill our language.Copy !req
5. That is why we must declare
a holy war...Copy !req
6. against what we see every day
on TV, commercials and...Copy !req
7. I think it should be,
there must be a real war...Copy !req
8. against the ads, a
real war on talk shows,Copy !req
9. real war on Bonanza
and Rawhide and all that.Copy !req
10. In honor of the premiere of "The Doors
of the sky", on Wednesday, April 11Copy !req
11. Werner Herzog will eat his shoe.
Live, in the balcony of the UC Theatre.Copy !req
12. I'm convinced that cooking is
the only alternative for making films.Copy !req
13. Maybe there's another alternative,
to go out for a walk.Copy !req
14. Let's put some
of garlic in each.Copy !req
15. It's pretty spicy.Copy !req
16. I recently discovered that that
He hates me so much because...Copy !req
17. when I stopped to think later
a lot of work done,Copy !req
18. I realized that in almost a year
I hadn't prepared a meal.Copy !req
19. And... a grown man like me, I don't
you should let go...Copy !req
20. a week without having
prepared a great meal.Copy !req
21. And that's what I hate about it...Copy !req
22. then I should
to care more about cooking.Copy !req
23. What are you putting in?Copy !req
24. Duck fat to soften up.Copy !req
25. I think you should put
a little more rosemary.Copy !req
26. Yes, it will be tasty... Looks good, doesn't it?
Look here...Copy !req
27. - Is that enough?
- Yes. We must put in more water,Copy !req
28. and cook for two hours.Copy !req
29. So, let's spice up this devilish thing.Copy !req
30. And we put this on him.Copy !req
31. It must be like a pig's foot,Copy !req
32. that... I think it's a little
like shoe leather,Copy !req
33. and is served with things
like the beans, theCopy !req
34. chilli and onion
sprinkled on top...Copy !req
35. and some raw garlic,
and spices like oregano or rosemary.Copy !req
36. Yeah, there's a lot of garlic in thereCopy !req
37. and onion, cumin or chili.
Shall I put salt?Copy !req
38. Chili and beans...
Forget the salt, right.Copy !req
39. Hey, I want my shoe back!Copy !req
40. Shout loudly so I can see.
Scream loudly.Copy !req
41. Nice shoe.Copy !req
42. - What was...? What is that?
- It's a shoe made of sugar.Copy !req
43. It's not licorice, like
Charlie Chaplin's.Copy !req
44. Werner said, "I doubt it!
They don't think it's worth it."Copy !req
45. "But if you do, I'll come to
Berkeley and eating the shoe...Copy !req
46. at the film's premiere."Copy !req
47. Emboldened, the next morning,
Errol called me on the phone...Copy !req
48. and asked if he had a camera
or knew people with equipment...Copy !req
49. because I'd like to shoot something with her
with no money or commercial intentions.Copy !req
50. I gave him a name of a very
Well, she went to film, and in two days...Copy !req
51. became a director with so much
trust that fired the cameraman...Copy !req
52. and then hired another cameraman
who also fired...Copy !req
53. and a third one who stayed and little by little
little did it become a movie...Copy !req
54. that she showed to the
New York City Festival...Copy !req
55. premiered last October
at the New York City Festival.Copy !req
56. Then he exhibited it at the Festival
of the London Film Festival, where...Copy !req
57. the American Film Magazine
wrote that it was the best film.Copy !req
58. Then he showed it in the
Berlin Festival andCopy !req
59. recently in the
Los Angeles FestivalCopy !req
60. and, of course, it's
one of the bestCopy !req
61. films released by
the decade in America,Copy !req
62. so you must stay and see it.Copy !req
63. And Werner called on Monday and,
to our surprise and horror...Copy !req
64. he said he wanted to eat his shoe.Copy !req
65. And here it is. I don't know to what extent
we should let him get on with it.Copy !req
66. He cooked his shoe...
and will try to eat it.Copy !req
67. I would suggest helping him by cutting it off
in pieces, but...Copy !req
68. You can give a warm
welcome to Werner Herzog.Copy !req
69. I have no intention of
eat his shoe in public.Copy !req
70. My intention was to eat it
in a restaurant...Copy !req
71. but I was pushed a little bit,
and to some extent it makes sense...Copy !req
72. because it should be an encouragement
for those who want to make films...Copy !req
73. and they're too afraid to
to begin with and they don't have the courage.Copy !req
74. So you can continue
a good example.Copy !req
75. And I think we should also...
I also do this in public because...Copy !req
76. I want to help Errol's film,
which is not yet distributed...Copy !req
77. and that it should be distributed
by the big studios,Copy !req
78. would make me happy.
And that's why I'm here.Copy !req
79. And don't worry, because we cooked it
for five hours...Copy !req
80. but it's even harder
than before, so I brought...Copy !req
81. I brought a pair of bird scissors
and some sharp knives.Copy !req
82. You can have the same
experience whenever they want...Copy !req
83. so they have to go to a
Kentucky Fried Chicken.Copy !req
84. I survived so many... I survived
so many Kentucky Fried Chicken...Copy !req
85. that this won't do me any harm.Copy !req
86. It's true that you swore to play
about a cactus at the end of...Copy !req
87. "Even dwarves are born small"?Copy !req
88. That was a different story.Copy !req
89. I realized that the danger was when
one of them was hit by a car.Copy !req
90. The car ran over
from him and even set himself on fire...Copy !req
91. when we wet the flower vases
with gasoline and lit a fire...Copy !req
92. it caught fire and I put it out
with my body, I threw myself at it...Copy !req
93. and when it went out I said, "I'm going to play
about a cactus if everyone survives."Copy !req
94. So I had fun drinking
photos and filming in super-8.Copy !req
95. Was he in a lot of pain
jump into the cactus?Copy !req
96. No, it wasn't a big deal.Copy !req
97. It was a horrible one, with big thorns.Copy !req
98. Some of them are still in my knee.Copy !req
99. I can't get them out of there, I just
are still there. But they don't hurt.Copy !req
100. Werner, you're a man of your word
when promises of self-destruction are made.Copy !req
101. No, it's not self-destructive
lie on a cactus.Copy !req
102. It was just a way of
have some fun...Copy !req
103. to show them that I was aware
of the problems they had...Copy !req
104. and giving them a little
of fun in return.Copy !req
105. Maybe we can make some
questions as he prepares.Copy !req
106. How did Errol get
money to make the film?Copy !req
107. It's still a mystery, he borrowed
in every way, he stole...Copy !req
108. I don't know how, but
this is one way to do it.Copy !req
109. If you want to make a movie,
steals a camera, steals the film...Copy !req
110. Invade...
Invade a lab and do it.Copy !req
111. It's all good.Copy !req
112. Take a bite here.Copy !req
113. I don't think I'm gonna eat the soles,
because they're very sticky.Copy !req
114. When you eat a chicken,
they leave their bones behind.Copy !req
115. Not bad, he's got a
pleasant garlic flavour.Copy !req
116. I'll eat another shoe when the
20th Century Fox or Columbia...Copy !req
117. or Warner Brothers
distribute the film.Copy !req
118. So, we're going to
save the other one.Copy !req
119. The position of the U.S. is not known after
of the State of Union Address.Copy !req
120. But after seeing this movie,
you'll know.Copy !req
121. "It's not a film about
pet cemeteries."Copy !req
122. It's a film about a family...Copy !req
123. with all its faults, all
his dreams, all the dramas.Copy !req
124. It's the only movie
about true love,Copy !req
125. the emotions and the
late capitalism...Copy !req
126. and perhaps the only authentic film about
the emotional void and the loss of...Copy !req
127. distortion of feelings,
the degeneration of feelings.Copy !req
128. It's a very, very sad and very pure film,
and a very pure and very mature film.Copy !req
129. This guy came and
made his first film...Copy !req
130. and yes, it's a
very mature director...Copy !req
131. and I really like it a lot.Copy !req
132. Scene deleted from "Gates of Heaven"
A film by Errol MorrisCopy !req
133. The most important trophy
I won in California.Copy !req
134. I received a necklace
of $1 bills.Copy !req
135. There were about 600
dollars hanging there.Copy !req
136. I had no idea I'd won.Copy !req
137. I had sold more policies
in that period than in any other...Copy !req
138. and represented each policy with a
dollar, so I got a big head start...Copy !req
139. but I couldn't walk with him.
I don't dare expose him here.Copy !req
140. But it was a beautiful trophy. It took me four
hours to remove the tape from every dollar.Copy !req
141. I like Errol Morris.
I knew him when he was a student...Copy !req
142. I had seen
some of my films.Copy !req
143. I encouraged him to make a movie
because he'd done a lot of things.Copy !req
144. He was a cellist and gave up,
abandoned his career as a scientist...Copy !req
145. and he was a writer.Copy !req
146. It had thousands and thousands of pages
of the most incredible material...Copy !req
147. I've ever seen in my life.Copy !req
148. But he hadn't finished his books, so
I said, "You're a man...Copy !req
149. that I should be making movies,
and you're going to do them now."Copy !req
150. And he said, "Well, I don't have any money
and no one's going to give it to me."Copy !req
151. I said, "Money doesn't make movies. Just
you have to do it, take the initiative.Copy !req
152. I'm going to eat my shoe
if you finish this film."Copy !req
153. And now the time has come.Copy !req
154. In fact, these are the shoes I had
when I made the promise to Errol.Copy !req
155. I had to bring these shoes. I could
come with the running shoes...Copy !req
156. but that doesn't make sense,
not as a coward.Copy !req
157. Well, I think we should let
Werner eat the rest of his shoe in peace.Copy !req
158. Is it getting better or worse?Copy !req
159. Better.Copy !req
160. - Tear this part off there.
- Yes.Copy !req
161. Werner, can you tell us about
the social use of your films?Copy !req
162. What is the value of the
films for society?Copy !req
163. Do not ask questions that
they're not up to it.Copy !req
164. What is society?
I don't know.Copy !req
165. I wonder...Copy !req
166. since I've been
in contact with the public...Copy !req
167. about the value of films.Copy !req
168. And I think... I don't know,
provide a "vision".Copy !req
169. They don't change people's minds,
do not cause revolutions, do not...Copy !req
170. films can modify
our perspective on things,Copy !req
171. and ultimately,
in the long run...Copy !req
172. can be valuable, but it has
also a lot of nonsense involved.Copy !req
173. As you can see,
I became a clown.Copy !req
174. That happens to everyone.
Seeing Orson Welles or seeing...Copy !req
175. even people like Truffaut
are turning into clowns.Copy !req
176. Would it be because of the publicity?Copy !req
177. No, because what we do as directors
of cinema is not important...Copy !req
178. is just a projection of light,
and doing that all your life...Copy !req
179. makes him a clown,
and it's almost an inevitable process.Copy !req
180. I feel the same way about photography.Copy !req
181. Yeah, it looks a little like this.
It's the work of a magician.Copy !req
182. And it's embarrassing to be a filmmaker and
sitting here like this, I mean...Copy !req
183. Thank God I don't have to
sitting here for one of my films...Copy !req
184. I'm sitting here for
a film made by a friend.Copy !req
185. <The day after he ate his shoe.Copy !req
186. That doesn't give you an image ethic.Copy !req
187. We have no ethics of
the images, ourCopy !req
188. civilization does not have
ethics of images.Copy !req
189. I think our civilization is
doomed, she will die like the dinosaurs...Copy !req
190. if no ethics of the
language or an ethics of images.Copy !req
191. This is a dramatic situation.Copy !req
192. For example, we discovered
that the serious onesCopy !req
193. problems encountered
for civilization...Copy !req
194. like energy, the environment,
or nuclear power, overpopulation...Copy !req
195. but in general they don't understand
that a problem just as big...Copy !req
196. is in the absence of adequate images.
And I'm working,Copy !req
197. in a new grammar of images.Copy !req
198. Errol brought a good example.
He is now a reference point...Copy !req
199. and I'm proud of that.Copy !req
200. I'm proud of the
and proud of me,Copy !req
201. that I pushed him a little bit for this.Copy !req
202. So, eating a shoe
it's a stupid act, but it's worth it.Copy !req
203. I think sometimes we have to be pretty
stupid enough to do such things.Copy !req
204. More shoes, more boots, more garlic.Copy !req
205. Translation and Subtitling: Rolf Rüst
Buenos Aires-2011Copy !req