Werner Herzog Says Volcano Doc ‘Into the Inferno’ Will Debut At Telluride; Has 2 More Dramatic Features In The Works

Werner Herzog is never short on projects. The director has a documentary about the Internet, digital connections and more coming out this week (“Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World”), another doc hitting the film festival circuit in the fall (“Into The Inferno”) and two features coming soon (the drama “Salt And Fire” with Michael Shannon hitting the Toronto International Film Festival and the belated North American release of his historical epic, “Queen Of The Desert”).

On the recent WTF podcast with Marc Maron, Herzog discussed ‘Lo & Behold,’ but also the various other pictures he has on the go, like a fry cook keeping seven dishes from burning at the same time. And Herzog confirmed some early suspicions. His volcano doc, “Into The Inferno” will actually debut at the Telluride Film Festival, though the fest in Colorado is vehemently against the notion of  “world premieres.” Regardless, the programming makes sense considering Telluride has its own “Werner Herzog Theater” named in tribute to the filmmaker and Herzog is essentially a mainstay of the festival whenever he has a film ready.

Herzog also revealed that apart from the aforementioned four films he is juggling the release or premieres of, he has two feature films in the works as well, both of which he wrote. “Feature films are always my own scripts with very few rare exceptions,” the filmmaker explained when Maron asked where the ideas came from.

READ MORE: 10-Minute Video Compares Werner Herzog & Abe Ferrara’s Versions Of ‘Bad Lieutenant’ 

Asked what the difference is between his documentaries and feature films Herzog suggested not a lot and also described once more his “ecstatic truth” approach to documentary films which includes fabrication and manipulations. “I also write, of course, a documentary, and I somehow stylize and stage them,” he said. “I do it for enhancement of a deeper truth, something that is beautiful out there and something that connects us to poetry. I like to take audiences — and I’m speaking now about documentaries — I take them left and right and right into the landscape of sheer illumination and poetry. And I claim the right of trespassing if I can take you into [that] landscape… I’ll do any form of trespassing easily.”

Of course, Herzog didn’t reveal what his next to dramatic features are, but it’s always reassuring to know the prodigious 73 year old filmmaker isn’t slowing down.

It’s a worthwhile conversation to listen to, so be sure to check it out. Additionally, if you haven’t seen already, Herzog recently deconstructed and analyzed Kanye West’s controversial “Famous” video and that’s as always, rather amusing. Watch that one below as well.