http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/06/surviving-warner-herzog.php Known for injuries, near-death incidents, and sheer madness on his sets, director Werner Herzog hasn't slowed down with age. Maybe it's because his actors—namely Christian Bale and Steve Zahn, in his latest, Rescue Dawn—who take most of the heat-stroked, maggot-eating, weight-losing, snake-biting abuse. Not that they weren't into it. "Werner's guerrilla shooting style was tough on the cast," Los Angeles Clipper Elton Brand, one of the producers of the film, said at the special screening Monday in the Dolby Screening Room in Midtown Manhattan. "But when Christian had to eat maggots, he wanted to eat maggots. When he slid down the hill, he wanted to slide down the hill," Brand says. Bale added that there were rapids and waterfalls, and helicopters that were chopping the tops of trees. "There are not many films that allow you to experience that, and I loved it." Then there were the snakes. "There's a water scene [where] they're submerged in water for a little bit. There are snakes in the water. Christian tried to bite [the snake] at Werner's insistence. He missed it. It got away. Dieter, the guy Christian portrays, was wild like that. He had a good time in the field." Bale, who shed 63 pounds for The Machinist also dropped weight for this role, but it was his co-star Steve Zahn who shed 40 pounds in 4 1/2 months. "The hard part was actually doing all the scenes in this hut when we were chained together," Zahn tells Radar. "It was hot. It was horrible, actually. The maggots and the river and floating down the river—that was kind of a fun day. Maybe it was the heat, but Bale tells Radar there was lots of laughing on set. "We couldn't help it in the situations we were in. We were, sort of, this ragged, decrepit-looking bunch. We'd lost an awful lot of weight. We were this puny, inept-looking, incapable crowd in the midst of the tide jungle with poisonous snakes and venomous spiders around us. I think inadequacy is always a great source for humor, and we were incredibly inadequate." Mad respect for Brand. My favorite director.....
I heard Brand on a local radio interview talking about this project... it was Brand's pitch to develop this from a short film into a full length feature... he has been involved entirely since its inception and was on set in Southeast Asia... he sounds like he is a great guy to have around the set and he also said how much respect he has for Herzog... he (Brand) was filming on his own home video camera the whole experience, as Herzog's shadow plot outline from imdb
On the DVD of Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo, he said that when they were shooting in the Amazon, a snake bit one of the local crew member's feet while he was cutting some trees down. The guy knew he wouldn't make it until the anti venom got there so he immediately cut off his own foot with his chainsaw.
Damn it! I was hoping Elton Brand and Werner Herzog were being traded to the Rockets for Battier and Alston. Those would be huge upgrades to PF and PG respectively.
I don't know if that part is right. Still, it looks like he found the project, took interest, and really got into it. Baron Davis is another NBA guy who is really interested in movies and has already produced one and is working on a documentary about LA gangs to be directed by Stacy Peralta who did Dogtown and the Zboys.
Christian Bale is one the best actors in Hollywood but he never gets all the media attention because he never warrants publicity. I hope he wins an Oscar soon so that people really appreaciate his talent and acting. Too many great movies to list but here's a few: Empire of the Sun American Psycho Machinist Batman Begins Harsh Times The Prestige Upcoming Movies: 3:10 to Yuma - starring opposite Russell Crowe, this movie will bring back the Western genre especially after watching the proposition with Guy Pierce. Any western fans owe it to themselves to watch the proposition it's a masterpiece and a perfect ressurction a now forgotten part of movies. The Dark Knight - Who better than Bale to play a disturbed superhero. The is my favorite comic book to movie adaptation because the director and actor both handle it which great excellence. Spiderman may draw the big guns at the box office but Batman is truly how you make a cult icon into screen legend. I cannot wait to see this movie. Killing Pablo - Wow a movie based on the colombian drug lord himself Pablo Escobar!
I'm also excited to see this movie.Looks pretty good. Herzog is a good director and Bale is a great actor and also my favorite actor...
