Werner Herzog

Directing

Werner Herzog

Born 1942-09-05 · Munich, Allemagne

Werner Herzog (German: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈhɛɐ̯tsoːk]; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films. Herzog started work on his first film Herakles in 1961, when he was nineteen. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature films and documentaries, such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Cobra Verde (1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Invincible (2000), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010). He has published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas. 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." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009. Description above from the Wikipedia article Werner Herzog, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Penguins of Madagascar poster
6.5

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.

Penguins of Madagascar

2014

Jack Reacher poster
6.7

One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interrogation yields one written note: 'Get Jack Reacher!'. Reacher, an enigmatic ex-Army investigator, believes the authorities have the right man but agrees to help the sniper's defense attorney. However, the more Reacher delves into the case, the less clear-cut it appears. So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.

Jack Reacher

2012

Grizzly Man poster
7.5

Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Grizzly Man

2005

What Dreams May Come poster
7.2

Chris Nielsen dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he died, his wife Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in Hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven.

What Dreams May Come

1998

Ghost Elephants poster
7.7

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Ghost Elephants

2026

Orion and the Dark poster
6.5

A boy with an active imagination faces his fears on an unforgettable journey through the night with his new friend: a giant, smiling creature named Dark.

Orion and the Dark

2024

Freaks of Nature poster
6.1

In the town of Dillford, humans, vampires and zombies were all living in peace - until the alien apocalypse arrived. Now three teenagers-one human, one vampire, and one zombie-have to team up to figure out how to get rid of the visitors.

Freaks of Nature

2015

The Grand poster
5.8

The Grand is in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.

The Grand

2007

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds poster
6.5

This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

2020

SnowwhiteRosered poster
6.0

Documentary about the twin sister Jutta and Gisela Schmidt. In the late sixties the two women rebelled against middle class society as if they gave vent to a new kind of art. They became active in the underground communist party KPD and showed a heart-felt interest in the colour red, the aesthetics of the revolution. Soon, though, the twins quit their experiments in Germany. They left their husbands and went to Rome, where they met the fabulously wealthy Paul Getty III, and soon things got really out of hand.

SnowwhiteRosered

1991

Into the Inferno poster
6.9

With stunning views of eruptions and lava flows, Werner Herzog captures the raw power of volcanoes and their ties to indigenous spiritual practices.

Into the Inferno

2016

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer poster
7.6

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Pattinson, we are given an exciting glimpse into the work and personal life of the iconic artist.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer

2022

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant poster
2.0

Chronicles the making of director Werner Herzog’s 2009 feature, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, providing profound insight into the director and his craft. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done was inspired by the true story of an actor who committed in reality the crime he was supposed to enact on stage: murdering his mother. With longtime friend Herbert Golder behind the lens, Herzog reveals the privacy and deep solitude that defines the director and his art.

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

2017

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault poster
NR

THE AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE VAULT is a 2-disc, 500-minute odyssey that collects eight feature-length VHS mixtapes from the crackpots at AGFA—including two that have only ever been available theatrically.

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault

2020

Encounters at the End of the World poster
7.5

Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica, where he finds a desolate, beautiful landscape, largely untouched by human hands, and a group of truly unique people who risk their lives to study it. Centered at McMurdo Station, the United States' largest Antarctic research center, Herzog explores the minds of the scientists willing to abandon civilization and endure volatile conditions to learn more about the continent's wildlife and awe-inspiring natural wonders.

Encounters at the End of the World

2007

Tegoyo poster
6.0

In 1968 legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog shot in the island of Lanzarote his film Even Dwarfs Started Small. Fifty years later a rather peculiar scientist recovers haunting sounds from an unearthly past.

Tegoyo

2022

My Best Fiend poster
7.3

A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

My Best Fiend

1999

The Andinist poster
NR

An old painter recounts the story of when he met a strange mountain climber, or perhaps, an explorer from another world.

The Andinist

2020

Handicapped Future poster
6.8

A documentary by Werner Herzog exploring the different treatment accorded to the disabled in Germany and the USA.

Handicapped Future

1971

Heart of Glass poster
6.5

A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.

Heart of Glass

1976

Dangerous Game poster
5.7

A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.

Dangerous Game

1993

Lessons of Darkness poster
7.9

Shortly after the Gulf War, oil fires were raging all through Kuwait. In the week before this sea of fire would be extinguished, Werner Herzog filmed this apocalyptic landscape with its murky skies, scorched earth and capricious flames.

Lessons of Darkness

1992

Into the Abyss poster
6.9

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

Into the Abyss

2011

Bride of the Orient poster
9.5

After the death of his mother, a lonely farmer in rural Switzerland considers finally starting a family of his own. Eventually he pays for a bride from Thailand. The couple don't share a language, but being to know each other. However the village neighbors are suspicious of foreigners.

Bride of the Orient

1989

Behind the camera

Grizzly Man poster
7.5

Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Grizzly Man

2005

Ghost Elephants poster
7.7

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Ghost Elephants

2026

Ghost Elephants poster
7.7

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Ghost Elephants

2026

Ghost Elephants poster
7.7

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Ghost Elephants

2026

Ghost Elephants poster
7.7

In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.

Ghost Elephants

2026

Nosferatu the Vampyre poster
7.3

A real estate agent leaves behind his beautiful wife to go to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

1979

Nosferatu the Vampyre poster
7.3

A real estate agent leaves behind his beautiful wife to go to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

1979

Nosferatu the Vampyre poster
7.3

A real estate agent leaves behind his beautiful wife to go to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

1979

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans poster
6.2

Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who receives a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

2009

Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster
7.4

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1972

Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster
7.4

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1972

Aguirre, the Wrath of God poster
7.4

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1972

Fitzcarraldo poster
7.6

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Fitzcarraldo

1982

Fitzcarraldo poster
7.6

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Fitzcarraldo

1982

Fitzcarraldo poster
7.6

Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.

Fitzcarraldo

1982

Rescue Dawn poster
7.0

A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

Rescue Dawn

2007

Queen of the Desert poster
5.8

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire in the Near and Middle East at the dawn of the twentieth century. Her knowledge of the tribal leaders is used by the British to establish the Kingdoms of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Queen of the Desert

2015

Queen of the Desert poster
5.8

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire in the Near and Middle East at the dawn of the twentieth century. Her knowledge of the tribal leaders is used by the British to establish the Kingdoms of Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Queen of the Desert

2015

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done poster
6.1

Brad has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place.

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

2010

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done poster
6.1

Brad has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place.

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

2010

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds poster
6.5

This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

2020

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds poster
6.5

This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

2020

Fata Morgana poster
6.5

Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.

Fata Morgana

1972

Fata Morgana poster
6.5

Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.

Fata Morgana

1972