Bronx-born director Abel Ferrara is not a guy to fuck with and certifiably crazy. But if there’s one filmmaker comparable to his madness and then some it’s the fearless, Teutonic nutcase Werner Herzog.
Herzog as you’ve heard is remaking Ferrara’s 1994 depraved NC-17 classic, “Bad Lieutenant” with Nicolas Cage and when wind of the news go eventually got to the irascible New York director, he contemptuously wished explosive bodily harm on Herzog and all the people involved with the film.
Defamer got a chance to sit down with Herzog to talk about his upcoming documentary, “Encounters at the End of the World,” and they couldn’t resist asking the very-Germanic filmmaker what he thought about the remake and Ferrara’s irritable comments.
First off, Herzog says the film is not a remake. its not a remake. “It’s like, for example, you wouldn’t call a new James Bond movie a remake of the previous one — the story is completely different. Nicolas Cage really wants to work with me, and just anticipating working with an actor of his caliber is just wonderful,” he told the L.A. celebrity site.
When told Ferrara vowed to fight the film, the drama-happy, I-see-beauty-in-crazy-shit filmmaker was naturally quite excited. “Wonderful, yes! Let him fight! He thinks I’m doing a remake, he said gleefully. “I have no idea who Abel Ferrara is. But let him fight the windmills, like Don Quixote.” Oooh, diss.
When told the original “Bad Lieutenant” director had wished all the participants in the project would “die in hell,” Herzog dismissed the sweaty reprobate like a giant swatting away at an annoying gnat. “That’s beautiful!,” he exclaimed when told Ferrara hoped he slept with the fishes in Hades. “Let him rave and rant; it’s good music in the background.”
Adding, ‘I have no idea who he is. Is he Italian? Is he French? Who is he?”
Damn, we bet Ferrara is reading this right now and fucking destroying his tiny and cramped Manhattan apartment. And man, this surely means war. This is not over Herzog! Germany: 1 New York: 0 (for now…).