8 Directors Who Did Crazy Things To Get Their Movies Made
8. Werner Herzog Dragged A Massive Steamship Over A Hill For Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo tells the story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman who attempts to transport a steamship over a hill in the Amazon Basin with the intention of accessing a massive supply of rubber.
How do you get a steamship over a hill for the purposes of filming? Simple. You move it there yourself. Herzog refused to use miniatures or what limited special effects were available in 1982 in order to achieve the desired effect. Instead, he dragged the three-hundred and twenty ton ship upwards over the course of shooting himself. So what kind of firm belief does in the final product does it take to physically drag a steamship over a steep incline for the purposes of shooting a movie? As Herzog himself said:If Id had to climb down to Hell itself and wrestle the film out of the claws of the devil, I would have done so. It was just not possible for me to allow myself private feelings of doubt whilst in the middle of making Fitzcarraldo."At the time of filming, Herzog proudly proclaimed that no-one had or would ever do anything like it ever again for the purposes of making a film. He even went as far as to dub himself "Conquistador of the Useless". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FggCkCuuBXw