Werner Herzog is, by most movie-goer's standards, the very definition of a director incapable of "selling out." Herzog has spent the sum of his long and fascinating career crafting brilliantly personal and idiosyncratic movies in a very independent way. How, you might ask, could he possibly have sold out? Just by making a movie within the confines of the Hollywood system, that's how. Which he did, of course, with 2006's Rescue Dawn, a Vietnam war flick starring Christian Bale. Okay, so firstly it's important to mention that this isn't a classic case of "selling out" by any means: the resulting movie is still incredibly Herzogian, and there's little sign of compromise (in fact, if you haven't seen it, go and check it out). But the very notion of somebody as ingrained into the independent movie scene as Herzog making a $10 million dollar movie for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer seems rather at odds with his established ethos and identity. There are presumably a bunch of die hard fans who still - to this day - feel a little betrayed.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
