Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.10.2017, Qupperneq 29

You have points on you that record
your motions and your facial ex-
pressions. You are in a body suit.
You have a helmet on. You're talk-
ing to actors who have done their
parts six weeks before you arrived.
There's nobody, and you have to find
eyelines, and you still have to under-
stand what you are doing. So this
kind of filmmaking is completely
distinct from what I would normally
do or what others would do. You're
going to different countries any-
where, and there's a local identity,
like Iranian film, or you name it.
Modern film per se does not really
exist, and it has never existed as a
uniform sort of movement and form
of art or communication.”
Werner Herzog, YouTube
sensation
In keeping with this nuanced point
of view on the medium, Herzog con-
tinues to look towards the future.
“I'm quite interested and fasci-
nated by what is coming,” he tells us.
“For example, the Internet. My big-
gest ever success was on YouTube,
with a film about texting and driv-
ing. It's had millions of viewers, and
now 40,000 high schools in America
make it mandatory for those who do
their driving license to see this. It's a
form of acting that's completely dig-
italised. And I've been into 360° im-
mersive virtual reality. I've looked
into these things although I haven't
made a film like that. Modern film
and cinema is shifting, and it has
always been shifting."
Herzog is decidedly uncompro-
mising. He has a vi-
sion for what is re-
quired to be a great
filmmaker, and he
expects those who
are accepted to the Rogue Film
School to understand and abide
these elements.
"You cannot really ignite much,
but I make a point that those who
come to me, who are really filtered
out from many, many applicants,
that they take it seriously what I try
to tell them," he says.
Holding the sacred
codex
If you takes a look at the Rogue Film
School, one of the first things that
grabs your attention is that there is
a required reading list. Amongst the
titles that anyone hoping to attend
this school
must read
is the Poetic
Eddas of the
Icelanders,
also known
as the Co-
dex Regius.
This medi-
eva l piece
of literature
holds a spe-
c i a l pla c e
in Herzog’s
heart. His
eyes l ig ht
u p w h e n
he’s asked to
explain his
affection for
this work.
"[The Po-
etic Eddas]
is one of my
all-time fa-
vourite pieces of poetry,” he says.
“That's one of the things I tell those
in the Rogue Film School that they
have to read. Read, read, read, read,
read. If you do not read, you will
never be a great filmmaker. Maybe
you will become a filmmaker, but
a mediocre one at
best. I have a manda-
tory list of five or six
books, three or four
they have to read,
otherwise I throw them out within
15 minutes of the first day. I have
read the Poetic Eddas, the Codex Re-
gius, many times, and I have found
such great joy with it. I was in Ice-
land twice. Once in the ‘70s, and now
less than two years ago. Both times
I held the Codex in my hands. You
see when it was brought back from
Denmark, on a battleship, half the
population of Iceland was waiting
at the pier, reciting the poetry, sing-
ing and getting drunk for days and
days. Only a few years later, I asked,
'Can I see it? the physical book, be-
cause I love it so much.’ I saw it and
was allowed to hold it in my hand,
and read a little bit into it. I know
some passag-
es well. And
for the film
on volcanoes,
a g a i n , I ' m
filming and
reciting from
the poetry. It's
so much the
spirit of Ice-
land, and so
much of what
is beyond your
own culture
and beyond
your own na-
tion. There's
s o m e t h i n g
universal in
it, and that's
what I ask the
Rog ue st u-
dents to read.
Of course, it
doesn't have
directly to do with filmmaking, but
if you really want to become a film-
maker, you really have to read po-
etry, and you have to read of course
the great Russian novels, and you
have to read ancient Greek and Latin
antiquity. I insist on this."
It’s at this point that we must
say our goodbyes, as dinner awaits
him, and he quickly departs. After
the photographer and I pack up and
head downstairs, we see him seated
with his wife in the dining room,
reviewing the menu. Moments later,
he is greeted by a man who toasts
his drink to him. Herzog accepts the
toast with a smile.
29The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 18 — 2017
gpv.is/culture
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“Self-reliance
seems like
something
that you don't
learn in film
school. It's very
depressing
what's
happening in
film schools.”
Stills from Herzog's Into The Inferno (2016)