Werner Herzog: The Movieline Interview

Michael Shannon has a small role in this film, and then you went on to make your next film, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, with him in the lead.

I contacted him and said, "After Bad Lieutenant, I'm planning to do another feature film with a complicated role and you would be the right one. I would like to put this on your shoulders. Would you be ready to carry this?" And he said yes. I asked him, "Why don't you join us for the shoot of Bad Lieutenant? I have only a very small part left, unfortunately, but you could somehow feel your way into how I work and how I deal with situations." He was very pleased to come and I loved to have him around for three days. He warmed up a little bit to me, and then half a year later, he was nominated for the Academy Awards [for his role in Revolutionary Road]. I was very, very proud, I really am proud for this. His performance as the central character in My Son, My Son is really sensational.

So you knew you wanted to cast him even before he broke out in Revolutionary Road?

I had an eye for it. If you don't have an eye for someone as phenomenally gifted as he is, you shouldn't be a director.

What film had you seen him in that convinced you?

Oh, I had seen not more than thirty seconds of him in something.

And that was all it took?

That was all it took. I knew he was the right one.

Our readers are very excited about your film school.

Yes, the instructions are up on the website for people who want to apply. You have to write about yourself -- I want to know with whom I'm dealing -- and you have to send in a DVD. I'm looking very, very carefully at everything. I really take it seriously because I want to condense the huge amount of applications to a very small group where I can really address every single one. It's going to be completely rogue and guerrilla-style. Wild stuff! If you want to learn about filmmaking techniques, you'd better apply.

Once upon a time, you said that if you were to start a film school, you'd make every applicant take a long, hard walk through their country and then write about it. Have you relaxed your standards?

Yes, that would be a good thing that I would encourage, to travel on foot. Of course, this is a consequence of so many young people converging and looking at my advice, seeing that there's some sort of hope out there. I just want to give something back to them.

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