Thompson on Hollywood

Watch: Wim Wenders' 1982 Documentary 'Room 666' Talks with Godard, Herzog, Fassbinder, Spielberg, Antonioni and More

Video

Check out this strangely hypnotic stream-of-thought documentary essay, "Room 666," made by Wim Wenders at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The 44-minute film features thoughts on cinema from an impressive roster of filmmakers: Jean-Luc Godard, fellow New German Cinema directors Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Michelangelo Antonioni and Steven Spielberg, among others. In an unsettling turn of events, Fassbinder would die of a drug overdose mere weeks after these interviews were shot. (The 31st anniversary of his death was June 10.)

By Beth Hanna
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June 12, 2013 4:16 PM
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WATCH: Werner Herzog's Unsettling 'Don't Text While Driving' PSA

Video

Be sure to check out this "Don't Text While Driving" PSA directed by Werner Herzog. Only 30 seconds long, the video has Herzog's signature observant touch, and with unsettling succinctness shows the catastrophic results of a distracted driver sending a text message as short as "On my way."

By Beth Hanna
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May 31, 2013 1:25 PM
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Werner Herzog to Receive Locarno Film Fest's Lifetime Achievement Award

News

German director and voiceover enthusiast Werner Herzog will receive this year's Locarno International Film Festival's Pardo d'onore, the festival announced Wednesday.

By Jacob Combs
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May 15, 2013 11:03 AM
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Trailers from Hell: Josh Olson on Herzog's Beautifully Bizarre 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call -- New Orleans'

Video

Overlooked and Underrated Week concludes at Trailers from Hell with screenwriter Josh Olson introducing Werner Herzog's beautifully bizarre Nicolas Cage-starrer, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call -- New Orleans."

By Trailers From Hell
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April 19, 2013 2:01 PM
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Watch: Werner Herzog Talks Ebert as More Than a Critic and Soldier of Cinema on Charlie Rose (VIDEO)

Video

Director Werner Herzog has had a sad last couple of weeks, with the loss of his friends film critic Roger Ebert and documentarian Les Blank. Below, Herzog's thoughts on Ebert on Charlie Rose (he joins critics A.O. Scott and Dana Stevens), with quote highlights.

By Beth Hanna
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April 15, 2013 2:42 PM
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Les Blank Interview From 1982 on Documentary 'Burden of Dreams,' Chronicling Herzog's Chaotic 'Fitzcarraldo'

Interviews

To celebrate the life of Les Blank I am sharing this interview I did with him at the 1982 Toronto Film Festival -- the very first Toronto Fest that I ever attended.

By Joe Leydon
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April 8, 2013 12:13 PM
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Documentary 'The Act of Killing' Premieres at Telluride, Screens at Toronto

Festivals

By Maggie Lange and Anne Thompson
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August 31, 2012 8:01 AM
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In The Works: Pattinson Lands Lawrence of Arabia Role in Herzog's Gertrude Bell Biopic, Starring Naomi Watts, Talks to Jon Stewart

News

Good news for Robert Pattinson. He's set to play a young T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert." Naomi Watts will co-star as Gertrude Bell in Herzog's biopic, which is set to kick off production this fall. The movie follows Bell's life as a writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political attache for the British Empire.

By Sophia Savage
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August 14, 2012 5:13 PM
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Dubai Festival: Herzog Wins Life Achievement Award, Talks Watts as Queen of the Desert

News

While accepting a Lifetime Achievement award at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival, Werner Herzog gave an update on his biopic about Gertrude Bell, the turn-of-the-century English writer, traveler and archeologist he calls "the female Lawrence of Arabia."