reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/26/85)
In this week's edition of the "LA Weekly", I saw a couple of interesting
rumors. Apparently, German director Volker Schlondorff ("The Tin Drum" and
"Swann in Love") is currently shooting a film version of the recent stage
production of "Death of a Salesman", with Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich.
More interestingly, Dino de Laurentiis and Werner Herzog are toying with
the idea of making a multimillion dollar movie called "Aztec". Those
unfamiliar with Herzog may not see what is particularly interesting about
this. Herzog is probably the most obsessive filmmaker in the world. One
of his last movies, "Fitzcarraldo", dealt with the story of a man who
schemes to make a fortune by dragging a ship across a mountain between two
rivers in the jungles of Brazil. Herzog chose to make this film in the
jungles of Brazil, complete with hostile natives who attacked his film
company over some misunderstandings. Moreover, he eschewed a special effects
approach and really did drag the damn ship over the mountain. On a more
personal note, on the location of an earlier film, "Aguirre, the Wrath of
God", Herzog is rumored to have pulled a pistol on his star, Klaus Kinski,
to keep him from walking off that film's Amazon jungle location. I'm not
certain that I want to see the Dino de Laurentiis production of Werner
Herzog's "Aztec", but it should be good for a couple of years of entertaining
film news, and if Les Blank isn't busy, he could produce a great documentary
on the making of it. I can also picture it going $20 million over budget,
as Herzog demands that they build extra pyramids for Klaus Kinski (the obvious
choice for Cortez) to climb. If our luck was fantastically good, Herzog
might even bankrupt de Laurentiis.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher