Where did the beef between German director Werner Herzog and cantankerous Bronx-born filmmaker Abel Ferrara net out?
In case you’ve lived under a rock: Herzog and Ferrara exchanged words several times over the last 12 months over the former’s “remake”/not-a-remake of the latter’s 1992 scuzzball classic, “Bad Lieutenant” starring Harvey Keitel as a drugged-up, out-of-control police officer.
As discussed umpteenth times, Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” borrows the name of the project (because the same producers own it and insisted on using it, even though Herzog was initially resistant) and uses the idea of an unhinged, drugged-up cop (this time played by Nicholas Cage), but having seen the wackball movie, we can say (as Herzog has said all along) it’s largely a very, very different picture with a completely different tone (one is jizz-stained, one is off-the-wall and comical).
So where did their war of words and feud pan out? Herzog insists that he has still never seen the original film (and somehow says he doesn’t know who Ferrara is despite the fact that they’ve thrown tons of digs at each other), but at the Venice Film Festival, he gave forth a laurel of peace suggesting the two should discuss their grievances over a drink. “We should meet up soon over a bottle of whisky,” Herzog told the press as a sort of public gesture to Ferrara if he was listening.
So, with “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” opening up soon (November 20), is that imbibing and burying of the hatchet going to happen? Probably not.
IFC talked to Alan and Gabe Polsky, the first-time producers behind Herzog’s film and they said Ferrara wouldn’t even take their calls. The other revelatory admission they make? Herzog wanted to actually cast Ferrara in the film (so much for not knowing who he is).
“We actually did reach out to Abel originally. We tried to get him on the phone with a couple of writers, it didn’t go anywhere and we just wanted to move forward. It’s unfortunate, because I know that Werner would’ve loved to have cast Abel in the movie. He wouldn’t have cast Harvey [Keitel], but he would’ve loved to cast Abel, but Abel was really not cool with what was going on.”
Would have been an need tip of the cap to the original if Ferrara did appear, but it sounds like even that drink isn’t going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, Ferrara is helping Wesley Snipe pay off his IRS bills by casting him as the lead in the action thriller, “Game of Death.”