Legendary director Werner Herzog is known for his sometimes fanatical commitment to his films, including moving a 320-ton steamship over a hill in the Amazon for 1982’s “Fitzcarraldo” — and the way he puts his characters in some of the most extreme and dire situations imaginable (have you seen “Grizzly Man”?).
His latest film, “Salt and Fire,” is no different, as it has one of the protagonists trapped in a vast salt flat with two blind boys. But the director himself said he’s not scared of those situations — or anything at all — when asked about his fears by TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell.
“Nothing,” Herzog said. “Period.”
“Salt and Fire,” which stars Veronica Ferres, Gael Garcia Bernal and Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, opens tonight in Los Angeles. The film is based on a short story, “Aral,” by Tom Bissell.
That story takes place at a lake of the same name in Central Asia, where “there’s a gigantic lake that dried out and a whole fleet of fishing boats now is sitting on sand.”
Herzog said he decided not to film “Salt and Fire” there because logistics are difficult and most of the ships had been dismantled and moved to China to be sold as scrap metal.
“I decided to go to some other place that looks much more like science fiction or salt flats — the most gigantic salt flats on this planet in Bolivia.”
Watch the video above.