Werner Herzog (German: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈhɛɐ̯tsoːk]; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films.
Herzog started work on his first film Herakles in 1961, when he was nineteen. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature films and documentaries, such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Cobra Verde (1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Invincible (2000), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010). He has published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.
French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive." American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009.
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Known For
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
(2009)
Director
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979)
Director
Fitzcarraldo
(1982)
Director
Cobra Verde
(1987)
Director
Rescue Dawn
(2006)
Director
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(1972)
Director
Stroszek
(1977)
Director
Queen of the Desert
(2015)
Director
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
(1974)
Director
Grizzly Man
(2005)
Director
Salt and Fire
(2016)
Director
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
(2009)
Director
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
(2010)
Director
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
(2020)
Director
Encounters at the End of the World
(2007)
Director
My Best Fiend
(1999)
Director
Full Filmography
Directing
Herakles
(1962)
Director
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz
(1967)
Director
Signs of Life
(1968)
Director
Last Words
(1968)
Director
Precautions Against Fanatics
(1969)
Director
Even Dwarfs Started Small
(1970)
Director
The Flying Doctors of East Africa
(1970)
Director
Land of Silence and Darkness
(1971)
Director
Handicapped Future
(1971)
Director
Fata Morgana
(1971)
Director
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(1972)
Director
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
(1974)
Director
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner
(1974)
Director
Heart of Glass
(1976)
Director
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
(1976)
Director
No One Will Play with Me
(1976)
Director
Stroszek
(1977)
Director
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
(1977)
Director
Woyzeck
(1979)
Director
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979)
Director
The Making of 'Nosferatu'
(1979)
Director
God's Angry Man
(1981)
Director
Fitzcarraldo
(1982)
Director
Huie's Sermon
(1983)
Director
Where the Green Ants Dream
(1984)
Director
Ballad of the Little Soldier
(1984)
Director
The Dark Glow of the Mountain
(1985)
Director
Portrait: Werner Herzog
(1986)
Director
Cobra Verde
(1987)
Director
The French as Seen by…
(1988)
Director
The Gauls
(1988)
Director
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
(1989)
Director
Giovanna d'Arco
(1989)
Director
Echoes from a Sombre Empire
(1990)
Director
Lohengrin: Bayreuth Festival
(1990)
Director
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
(1991)
Director
Film Lesson
(1991)
Director
Scream of Stone
(1991)
Director
Lessons of Darkness
(1992)
Director
Bells from the Deep
(1993)
Director
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
(1995)
Director
The Transformation of the World Into Music
(1996)
Director
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
(1997)
Director
My Best Fiend
(1999)
Director
Wings of Hope
(2000)
Director
Tannhäuser
(2000)
Stage Director
Invincible
(2001)
Director
Pilgrimage
(2001)
Director
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(2002)
Director
Ten Thousand Years Older
(2002)
Director
Wheel of Time
(2003)
Director
The White Diamond
(2004)
Director
Grizzly Man
(2005)
Director
The Wild Blue Yonder
(2005)
Director
Rescue Dawn
(2006)
Director
Encounters at the End of the World
(2007)
Director
Lohengrin: Bayreuth Festival Opera
(2008)
Stage Director
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans
(2009)
Director
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
(2009)
Director
La Bohème
(2009)
Director
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
(2010)
Director
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
(2010)
Director
Into the Abyss
(2011)
Director
Ode to the Dawn of Man
(2011)
Director
The Killers: Unstaged
(2012)
Director
From One Second to the Next
(2013)
Director
Queen of the Desert
(2015)
Director
Into the Inferno
(2016)
Director
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
(2016)
Director
Salt and Fire
(2016)
Director
Meeting Gorbachev
(2019)
Director
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
(2019)
Director
Family Romance, LLC
(2019)
Director
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
(2020)
Director
Theatre of Thought
(2022)
Director
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
(2024)
Director
Acting
Neuer Deutscher Film Report
(1967)
Die Erben von Papas Kino
(1968)
Signs of Life
(1968)
Soldier (uncredited)
Tales of the Dumpster Kid
(1971)
Hurenmörder
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner
(1974)
Self
Lost in the Garden of the World
(1975)
Self
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
(1976)
Self
Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema
(1976)
Self
Heart of Glass
(1976)
Glass Transporter
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
(1977)
Narrator (voice)
Journey Through History
(1977)
Self
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979)
Hand and Feet in Box with Rats (uncredited)
The Making of 'Nosferatu'
(1979)
Self
I Am My Films: A Portrait of Werner Herzog
(1979)
Self
Scénario de 'Sauve qui peut la vie'
(1979)
Self (archive footage)
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
(1980)
Self
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
(1980)
Self - Film Director: Nosferatu
God's Angry Man
(1981)
Narrator (voice)
Burden of Dreams
(1982)
Self - Filmmaker
The South Bank Show: Werner Herzog
(1982)
Self
Room 666
(1982)
Self
Man of Flowers
(1983)
The Father
Ballad of the Little Soldier
(1984)
Self (voice)
Where the Green Ants Dream
(1984)
Lawyer (uncredited)
Tokyo-Ga
(1985)
Self
The Dark Glow of the Mountain
(1985)
Self (voice)
Portrait: Werner Herzog
(1986)
Self
Location Africa
(1987)
Self
To the End of the World... and Then a Little Bit Further
(1989)
Self
Bride of the Orient
(1989)
Businger
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
(1989)
Narrator (voice)
The Heart and the Legs
(1989)
Self
Hard to Be a God
(1990)
Mita / Richard
Echoes from a Sombre Empire
(1990)
Self
Russian adventure. Peter Fleischmann is filming "It's not easy to be a god."
(1990)
Self
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
(1991)
Narrator (voice)
Scream of Stone
(1991)
TV-Regisseur
SnowwhiteRosered
(1991)
Self
Film Lesson
(1991)
Self
Lessons of Darkness
(1992)
Narrator (voice)
Bells from the Deep
(1993)
Narrator (voice)
Dangerous Game
(1993)
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Burning Heart
(1995)
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
(1995)
Narrator (voice)
Stardust Stricken: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, A Portrait
(1996)
Self
The Transformation of the World Into Music
(1996)
Self
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
(1997)
Narrator (voice)
What Dreams May Come
(1998)
Face
My Best Fiend
(1999)
Self
A Brief History of Errol Morris
(1999)
Self
Julien Donkey-Boy
(1999)
Father
In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
(1999)
Self
Wings of Hope
(2000)
Self
The Ball Is a Scumbag
(2000)
Self
Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
(2000)
Self
The Last Documentary
(2000)
Self
The 100 Greatest Films
(2001)
Self
The Boxing Prince
(2002)
Self
Strawberryland
(2002)
Turnlehrer
Wheel of Time
(2003)
Narrator (voice)
The White Diamond
(2004)
Narrator (voice)
Incident at Loch Ness
(2004)
Self
Dribble
(2004)
Self (voice)
The Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 3
(2004)
Self (voice) ("Dribble" short)
Dreams and Burdens
(2005)
Self
Grizzly Man
(2005)
Self
Perpetuum Mobile: Voices in the Blue Space
(2005)
Self
Q & A with Jana Sevcikova and Werner Herzog
(2005)
Self
In the Edges: The 'Grizzly Man' Session
(2005)
Self
Walking to Werner
(2006)
Self (voice)
50 Films to See Before You Die
(2006)
Self
The Grand
(2007)
The German
All In This Tea
(2007)
Encounters at the End of the World
(2007)
Narrator (voice)
Munich (Filmfest) Stories - 25 years of Munich Filmfest
(2007)
Self
Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema
(2007)
Self
Making of a True Story: Rescue Dawn
(2007)
Self
Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers
(2008)
Self
Mister Lonely
(2008)
Father Umbrillo
Back to Room 666
(2008)
Self (archive footage)
Capturing Reality
(2008)
Self
BLAST!
(2008)
Narrator (voice)
Bierbichler
(2008)
Self
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
(2008)
Self
Plastic Bag
(2009)
Plastic Bag (voice)
The Lonely
(2009)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
(2010)
Narrator (voice)
Werner Herzog Defends Dade
(2010)
Self
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
(2010)
Narrator (voice)
When Herzog Rescued Phoenix
(2010)
Narrator (voice)
I am My Films, Part 2... 30 Years Later
(2010)
Self
Behind the Madness: The Making of My Son, My Son
(2010)
Self
Anyone who dares will take the cold off their horse
(2010)
Self
Into the Abyss
(2011)
Narrator (voice)
Hans Zimmer: The Sound of Hollywood
(2011)
Self
Dubai Winter Diary VI: Light and Reflections
(2011)
Self
Champions: A Comic Tale
(2011)
Self
On Borrowed Time
(2011)
Self
I, I, I José Lewgoy
(2011)
Self
Jack Reacher
(2012)
Zec Chelovek
Dinotasia
(2012)
Narrator (voice)
10 Questions for Werner Herzog
(2012)
Self
The Killers: Unstaged
(2012)
Self
Close Up
(2012)
Self (archive footage)
The Unbelievers
(2013)
Self
Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision
(2013)
Alexander von Humboldt
Mistaken for Strangers
(2013)
Self (uncredited)
Jack Reacher: When the Man Comes Around
(2013)
Self
An Appreciation of Les Blank by Werner Herzog
(2013)
Self
Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on 'The Act of Killing'
(2013)
Self
Life Itself
(2014)
Self - Filmmaker
Penguins of Madagascar
(2014)
Documentary Filmmaker (voice)
Lemonade War
(2014)
Neighborhood Hero
Werner Herzog: On Death Row and Life as a Director
(2014)
Self
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
(2014)
Self (archive footage)
Freaks of Nature
(2015)
Perfect Being (voice)
Into the Inferno
(2016)
Narrator (voice)
Salt and Fire
(2016)
Man with One Story (uncredited)
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
(2016)
Self
Jihad in Hollywood
(2016)
Self
The Man Who Killed John Wayne
(2017)
Self (archive footage)
Ballad of a Righteous Merchant
(2017)
Self
The Great Buster: A Celebration
(2018)
Self
Manaslu: Mountain of Souls
(2018)
Self
Paradox Bullets
(2018)
Narrator (voice)
Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias
(2018)
Self
I'm a Soldier
(2018)
Self
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
(2019)
Self - Interviewer and Narrator (voice)
Meeting Gorbachev
(2019)
Self
Tattoo Uprising
(2019)
Self
90 Years of the Music Box Theatre
(2019)
Self
Jihad in Hollywood
(2019)
Self
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
(2020)
Self - Narrator (voice)
AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.
(2020)
Self
Wim Wenders, Desperado
(2020)
Self
Dear Werner (Walking on Cinema)
(2020)
Narrator (voice)
The Andinist
(2020)
The Painter (Narrator)
A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner
(2020)
Self
Falling - Q&A
(2021)
Self - Host
Meteor: Sohrab Shahid Saless
(2021)
Self
Hannelore Elsner: More Than One Life
(2021)
Self (archive footage)
The Extravagant Little Life of Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus
(2021)
Self (archive footage)
Last Exit: Space
(2022)
Narrator (voice)
Tegoyo
(2022)
Self (Voice)
Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer
(2022)
Self
Nosferatu: A Film Like a Vampire
(2022)
Self (archive footage)
The Arc of Oblivion
(2023)
Narrator (voice)
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
(2024)
Narrator (voice)
Orion and the Dark
(2024)
Narrator (voice)
Celebrating the Rice Media Center
(2024)
Self (archival footage)
Editing
Herakles
(1962)
Editor
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz
(1967)
Editor
Wheel of Time
(2003)
Editor
Sound
Herakles
(1962)
Sound
Precautions Against Fanatics
(1969)
Sound
The Flying Doctors of East Africa
(1970)
Sound Recordist
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
(1977)
Sound Engineer
Encounters at the End of the World
(2007)
Sound
Ode to the Dawn of Man
(2011)
Sound
Production
Herakles
(1962)
Producer
Last Words
(1968)
Producer
Signs of Life
(1968)
Producer
Precautions Against Fanatics
(1969)
Producer
Even Dwarfs Started Small
(1970)
Producer
Land of Silence and Darkness
(1971)
Producer
Handicapped Future
(1971)
Producer
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(1972)
Producer
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
(1974)
Producer
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
(1976)
Producer
Heart of Glass
(1976)
Producer
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
(1977)
Producer
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979)
Producer
Fitzcarraldo
(1982)
Producer
Ballad of the Little Soldier
(1984)
Producer
Where the Green Ants Dream
(1984)
Producer
The Dark Glow of the Mountain
(1985)
Producer
Location Africa
(1987)
Producer
Echoes from a Sombre Empire
(1990)
Producer
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
(1991)
Producer
Lessons of Darkness
(1992)
Producer
Invincible
(2001)
Producer
Wheel of Time
(2003)
Producer
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
(2010)
Executive Producer
Into the Abyss
(2011)
Producer
The Act of Killing
(2012)
Executive Producer
Red Army
(2014)
Executive Producer
The Look of Silence
(2015)
Executive Producer
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
(2016)
Producer
Salt and Fire
(2016)
Producer
A Gray State
(2017)
Executive Producer
The whole world is country
(2018)
Consulting Producer
Love Birds
(2019)
Consulting Producer
El Poso
(2022)
Producer
Last Exit: Space
(2022)
Executive Producer
Flores del precipicio
(2022)
Producer
Theatre of Thought
(2022)
Executive Producer
The Arc of Oblivion
(2023)
Executive Producer
Writing
Herakles
(1962)
Screenplay
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz
(1967)
Screenplay
Signs of Life
(1968)
Writer
Last Words
(1968)
Screenplay
Precautions Against Fanatics
(1969)
Writer
Even Dwarfs Started Small
(1970)
Screenplay
The Flying Doctors of East Africa
(1970)
Writer
Land of Silence and Darkness
(1971)
Screenplay
Fata Morgana
(1971)
Screenplay
Handicapped Future
(1971)
Writer
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(1972)
Writer
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
(1974)
Screenplay
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner
(1974)
Screenplay
Heart of Glass
(1976)
Writer
No One Will Play with Me
(1976)
Writer
Stroszek
(1977)
Screenplay
Woyzeck
(1979)
Screenplay
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979)
Writer
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
(1980)
Writer
God's Angry Man
(1981)
Writer
Fitzcarraldo
(1982)
Screenplay
Ballad of the Little Soldier
(1984)
Writer
Where the Green Ants Dream
(1984)
Writer
The Dark Glow of the Mountain
(1985)
Writer
Portrait: Werner Herzog
(1986)
Writer
Cobra Verde
(1987)
Screenplay
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
(1989)
Writer
Echoes from a Sombre Empire
(1990)
Writer
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
(1991)
Screenplay
Lessons of Darkness
(1992)
Writer
Bells from the Deep
(1993)
Writer
Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
(1995)
Writer
The Transformation of the World Into Music
(1996)
Writer
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
(1997)
Writer
My Best Fiend
(1999)
Writer
Wings of Hope
(2000)
Writer
Invincible
(2001)
Writer
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet
(2002)
Writer
Wheel of Time
(2003)
Writer
The White Diamond
(2004)
Screenplay
Grizzly Man
(2005)
Screenplay
The Wild Blue Yonder
(2005)
Screenplay
Rescue Dawn
(2006)
Author
Encounters at the End of the World
(2007)
Writer
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
(2009)
Screenplay
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
(2010)
Screenplay
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
(2010)
Writer
Into the Abyss
(2011)
Writer
Queen of the Desert
(2015)
Writer
Into the Inferno
(2016)
Writer
Salt and Fire
(2016)
Writer
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
(2016)
Writer
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
(2019)
Writer
Meeting Gorbachev
(2019)
Writer
Family Romance, LLC
(2019)
Writer
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
(2020)
Writer
Theatre of Thought
(2022)
Screenplay
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
(2024)
Writer
Crew
Handicapped Future
(1971)
Sound Recordist
Land of Silence and Darkness
(1971)
Sound Recordist
What Is It?
(2005)
Thanks
The Devil's Muse
(2007)
Creative Consultant
A Night Out
(2010)
Technical Advisor and Thanks
Ode to the Dawn of Man
(2011)
Cinematography
The Blimp-Maker
(2016)
Thanks
The Empty Goal
(2018)
Thanks
Notes from a Dromedary
(2022)
Creative Consultant
Camera