CONQUEST OF THE USELESS An Entry from the Production Diary of Fitzcarraldo (Page 2 of 3)
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The 320-ton steamship that was both the bane and realization of Herzog’s dreams.
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Once on board, we got everything ready: Vignati with a camera up on the bridge, strapped to the back wall, and Paul in the role of captain. The real captain was there with him, as was Walter, so that Paul could take the helm during the moments when we were shooting, something he actually knew how to handle. Next to the bridge we anchored the phonograph and nailed down a small tripod for Beatus. On the mid-deck Kinski, Mauch, and I took our places to film Fitzcarraldo stumbling onto the deck half asleep. Juarez was positioned in relative safety farther upfront with the sound equipment, and Les Blank and Maureen had joined us at the last moment. Klausmann and Raimund had set up atop a cliff in the ravine.
From the moment we set sail we picked up speed, moving on an angle, and had several good collisions with the cliffs on either side, but then the Huallaga turned and moved much faster, heading downstream with the current. Walter called to me from up above that we were going to hit the side on the left, and we filmed Kinski again as the cliff approached with menacing rapidity; Kinski ran past us too soon, heading for the stern, so that Mauch had to pan to follow him, with the result that we absorbed the collision facing backward. I had one arm around Mauch, and was holding him steady, while with my other hand I clung on to a window frame, but the collision was so powerful that it knocked us off our feet and sent us hurtling through the air. I saw the lens jolted off the camera and sent flying.
Somehow we spun around our axes as we ourselves went flying, and Mauch, with one hand under the camera, landed flat on the deck, with me on top of him. Mauch immediately balled up in a fetal position, screaming. I immediately thought it was his shoulder again, but it was worse; his hand had been split between the ring finger and the little finger by the crashing camera, deep into the root of his hand. He also had a gash on one side of his forehead. Kinski yelped as if he were injured, though he had only banged his elbows a bit, but when he saw Mauch he quickly forgot about himself and helped out like a good sport as we provided first aid.
Below the rapids the ship ran aground on a sandbank. The prow had curled up like the top of a sardine can, the anchor had been driven through the ship’s side, and water was getting into the hull. Vignati had been buffeted around so violently in his harness that he had two cracked ribs, and when Beatus pulled his head away from his firmly fastened-down camera, he was thrown against it. He was very woozy and asked me several times whether we were going to shoot now. We decided we had to get Mauch to the doctor as fast as possible, so we set out in the speedboat as darkness was falling, since I did not want to fly with so little light. We completely forgot about the two men up on the cliff in the middle of the Pongo. Mauch and I lay down in the boat and looked up at the stars. We saw two satellites, and then fog settled over the river. Before it got completely dark we saw two condors on the bank.
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Jul 7, 2009 wrote:
There is a movie! it’s the burden of dreams | | Anonymous, on Jul 7, 2009 wrote:
I’d like to see a movie just about hte production | | Anonymous, on Jul 2, 2009 wrote:
scumnation says ’ it was one of the best movies i have ever seen ’ | | Anonymous, on Jul 2, 2009 wrote:
I made a similar film with the plastic model boat. Perfect, perfect perfect. | | Anonymous, on Jul 1, 2009 wrote:
no wonder 20th Century Fox turned them down...this seems was a really big bitch to produce and film | | Anonymous, on Jul 1, 2009 wrote:
this is crazy! i didnt realize it was "the making of Fitzcarraldo"...i thought it was authentic stories from the time | |
| gnarwhal, on Jun 30, 2009 wrote:
what? you haven’t seen this? of course the final product was worth it. it’s a fucking cinematic classic. | |
| TheDon, on Jun 26, 2009 wrote:
Sounds like the cast/crew had a miserable experience; hope the final product was worth it. | | Anonymous, on Jun 26, 2009 wrote:
Just how many people were seriously hurt while filming this movie? | | Anonymous, on Jun 26, 2009 wrote:
the cook was putting in the sutures? No anesthesia? I would have been off this set in no time. | | Anonymous, on Jun 26, 2009 wrote:
If I was one of those producers I’d probably react in the same exact way. | |
| bogart the can, on Jun 25, 2009 wrote:
watched fitzcarraldo the other day (available on netflix watch it now btw!) and it was amazing. some of the scenes were just unbelieveable. definitely recommend this one! | | Anonymous, on Jun 25, 2009 wrote:
sounds like the craziest movie production ever, the end result must be absurd. | |
| el guapo, on Jun 23, 2009 wrote:
i loved in fitzcarraldo when the crew wanted to have a mutiny and he was all "fuck no you aren’t having a mutiny, get your asses back to work" even to the huge guy. you would have obeyed too if you saw klaus kinski’s eyes that wide. | | Anonymous, on Jun 19, 2009 wrote:
Damn... film crew so big they had prostitutes on location | | Anonymous, on Jun 19, 2009 wrote:
It’s no bad lieutenant | | Anonymous, on Jun 18, 2009 wrote:
I read somewhere once that Herzog almost strangled Kinski to death on the set of Aguree because he wanted to quit at some point towards the end. Any one know if that’s true? | | Anonymous, on Jun 16, 2009 wrote:
and yes it’s not ’life changing’ or ’deep’ but it is fucking incredible. | | Anonymous, on Jun 16, 2009 wrote:
holy fucking shit how did i not know about this? one of the greatest films ever made by one of the greatest guys ever. Can’t wait to get my hands on this. | | Anonymous, on Jun 15, 2009 wrote:
"oh man! i wanna see a picture of the steamship being hauled over the mountain. I bet that was crazy"
you’re in luck. there’s a moving picture of it. it’s called fitzcarraldo. | | Anonymous, on Jun 15, 2009 wrote:
Yeah, you actually see those arrows in Burden of Dreams. They’re fucking MASSIVE. It’s crazy to think anyone even survived after getting one of those things through yer neck. Herzog says something good about wanting to give his son them as souvenirs because he’d be excited at the fact they were stuck in a man. | | Anonymous, on Jun 15, 2009 wrote:
oh thanks, aguirre always comes up on my netflix recommendations but the cover has thrown me off. i’ll check it out. | | Anonymous, on Jun 15, 2009 wrote:
oh man! i wanna see a picture of the steamship being hauled over the mountain. I bet that was crazy | | Anonymous, on Jun 12, 2009 wrote:
for those who aren’t so familiar with herzog’s work, I recommend Aguirre: the wrath of god before you start watching The Grizzly Man Diaries | |
| electricboogaloo, on Jun 12, 2009 wrote:
handsdown one of my favorite film makers..his body of work is amazing | | Anonymous, on Jun 12, 2009 wrote:
summer reading list?
i say, yes yes! | | Anonymous, on Jun 11, 2009 wrote:
WOOoOooOoOOoO. HARPERS TO ECHO PARK> WOooOWOWOWOWOowoOoOOo | |
| Jesus Crust, on Jun 11, 2009 wrote:
I don’t typically like to idolize anyone but Herzog is a fucking God! | |
| | | Anonymous, on Jun 11, 2009 wrote:
This just proves that Werner Herzog is insane. INSANE! | | | Next 30 comments > |
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