History Creator / WernerHerzog

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent... not that there's anything wrong with it.

* AdamWesting: Herzog has a number of acting credits and is often playing a parody of himself. ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' and ''Incident at Loch Ness'' are two examples.

* CreatorThumbprint: His films all feature men with strange abilities or obsessions, and he has a hatred of chickens. In ''TheGrand'' he plays a gambler with an obsession over his pet chicken.

* ImplacableMan: He was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXqc8TQ15w shot]] while being interviewed by MarkKermode. Kermode was a bit freaked out. Herzog... not so much.
-->'''Werner Herzog''': It's not a significant bullet.
* JustifiedCriminal: According to himself, at least. He stole the camera used to film ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod'' from a film school.
-->It was a very simple 35mm camera, one I used on many other films, so I do not consider it a theft. For me, it was truly a necessity. I wanted to make films and needed a camera. I had some sort of natural right to this tool. If you need air to breathe, and you are locked in a room, you have to take a chisel and hammer and break down a wall. It is your absolute right.

* [[MissedTheBus Missed The Plane]]: At the beginning of ''Wings of Hope'' (aka Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel) a documentary about [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke Juliane Koepcke]] the SoleSurvivor of a plane crash in Peru in 1971, Herzog explains that he and his crew were booked on the same flight while heading to film ''Aguirre Wrath of God'', but they missed it due to overbooking.

-->Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and growing and just rotting away. Of course, there's a lot of misery. But it is the same misery that is all around us. The trees here are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don't think they sing, they just ''screech in pain''.

* SignatureStyle

* VitriolicBestFriends: Herzog's relationship with late, infamously choleric actor KlausKinski became the subject of the documentary ''My Best Fiend'' (also known as ''My Dearest Enemy''). The two cooperated on five movies, while at the same time supposedly nearly killing each other multiple times. In ''My Best Fiend'', Herzog confirmed that he threatened to kill Kinski as well as himself if the former would abandon the production of ''Aguirre'' (the rumor that Herzog had to force Kinski to act at gunpoint was an exaggeration), and that during the filming of ''Fitzcarraldo'', several local extras who had witnessed Kinski's rages had offered to kill Kinski for him.
* WhatTheHellHero: Some fans and critics had this reaction, due to ''Rescue Dawn's'' innacurate and extremely-negative portrayal of deceased soldier, Eugene Debruin. Herzog himself expressed remorse over the portrayal in the ''Rescue Dawn'' [=DVD=] bonus featurettes.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He has a thing about chickens. Knowing this makes the ending of ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' make a lot more sense.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: He also said of Klaus Kinski: "People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder."

->"There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization."
-->-- "Minnesota Declaration," 1999

->"Actually, for some time now I have given some thought to opening a film school. But if I did start one up you would only be allowed to fill out an application form after you have walked alone on foot, let’s say from Madrid to Kiev, a distance of about five thousand kilometers. While walking, write. Write about your experiences and give me your notebooks. I would be able to tell who had really walked the distance and who had not. While you are walking you would learn much more about filmmaking and what it truly involves than you ever would sitting in a classroom. During your voyage you will learn more about what your future holds than in five years at film school. Your experiences would be the very opposite of academic knowledge, for academia is the death of cinema. It is the very opposite of passion."
-->-- Interview with Paul Cronin, ''Herzog on Herzog''

-->-- ''Herzog's "Minnesota Declaration," 1999''

* VitriolicBestFriends: Herzog's relationship with late, infamously choleric actor KlausKinski became the subject of the documentary ''My Best Fiend''. The two cooperated on five movies, while at the same time supposedly nearly killing each other multiple times. In ''My Best Fiend'', Herzog confirmed that he threatened to kill Kinski as well as himself if the former would abandon the production of ''Aguirre'', and that during the filming of ''Fitzcarraldo'', local natives who had witnessed Kinski' rages had offered to kill Kinski for him.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He has a thing about chickens. Knowing this makes the ending of ''{{Stroszek}}'' make a lot more sense.

* AuthorAppeal: His films all feature men with strange abilities or obsessions, and he has a hatred of chickens. In ''TheGrand'' he plays a gambler with an obsession over his pet chicken.

* ''Film/EvenDwarfsStartedSmall''
* ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod''
* ''Film/TheEnigmaOfKasparHauser''
* ''{{Film/Nosferatu}}''
* ''Film/{{Woyzeck}}''
* ''Film/{{Stroszek}}''
* ''Film/{{Fitzcarraldo}}''
* ''Cobra Verde''
* ''Film/GrizzlyMan''
* ''Rescue Dawn''
* ''Film/BadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans''
* ''Cave of Forgotten Dreams''
* ''Encounters at the End of the World''

--> I get the feeling the abyss looked back into Werner Herzog and goes "blimey..." - '''Mark Kermode'''

* AdamWesting: Herzog has a number of acting credits and is often playing a parody of himself. ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' and ''Incident at Loch Ness are two examples.

* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: An aversion himself, he also featured in a spectacular subversion. ErrolMorris was a young film maker who had a great idea for a documentary: the pet cemetery business. Herzog was afraid that he would abandon the project like he had several others. So Herzog cornered Morris and told him "I don't think that you are brave enough to finish a film. If you finish this film, I will eat my own shoe!" When Morris finished the film (''GatesOfHeaven]]''), Herzog boiled and ate his shoe! And to top it all off, a friend of his made a documentary about the incident called ''Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe''.

* CoolOldGuy: During an interview, he was ''shot by a high-speed sniper rifle'', laughed it off, and continued to be interviewed.

* EatingShoes: Herzog literally ate one of his shoes in the documentary ''Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe'' because he lost a bet.
* FauxlosophicNarration / NietzscheWannabe: Albeit in [[TropesAreNotBad a good way]]. BBC film critic MarkKermode (the interviewer when Herzog was shot with the air rifle) in particular seems to be a fan of Herzog's narration style and called him "The great Germanic nihilist". For example he thought ''Film/EatPrayLove'' would have been improved if "Werner Herzog had come on and told her (JuliaRoberts) there is no God. The end".

* LargeHam: While his diction is generally even, the things he says are this.

* MadArtist: A significant portion of his reputation.

* NatureIsNotNice: Most notably in ''Grizzly Man'', in which Herzog narrates about how beautiful Timothy Treadwell's footage is, while at the same time lambasting him for being so naive about it.

* VitriolicBestFriends: Herzog's relationship with late actor/psychopath Klaus Kinski was the archetype for this trope. The two shared an incredible working relationship while at the same time nearly killing each other multiple times. Herzog famously threatened to commit a murder/suicide if Kinksi tried to abandon the production of ''Aguirre''. During the filming of ''Fiztcarraldo'', local natives offered to murder Kinski for him. Herzog made a documentary about their relationship after Kinski's death called ''My Best Fiend''.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Chickens.
* WhatTheHellHero: Some fans and critics had this reaction, due to ''Rescue Dawn's'' innacurate and extremely-negative portrayal of deceased soldier, Eugene Debruin. Herzog himself expressed remorse over the portrayal in the ''Rescue Dawn'' DVD bonus featurettes.

** His performance in ''Incident at Loch Ness'' is much the same way, although he's greatly enjoying the self parody.

* BrutalHonesty

* NatureIsNotNice

* WithFriendsLikeThese: He had an... interesting relationship with notoriously crazy actor KlausKinski, whom he worked with for several films. After Kinski's death, Herzog made a documentary about him entitled ''My Best Fiend''. He also said this about him: "People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder."
** There's also the famously debated story about an incident on the set of ''Aguirre''. It's said that Herzog forced Kinski to act at gunpoint. Herzog [[http://weeklywire.com/ww/04-27-98/slc_ae.html denied this]], saying that he only made a verbal threat of shooting him when Kinski wanted to leave the set.

* AdamWesting: His appearance on ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' is essentially himself but a tad more self-aware and hammy.

* AuthorAppeal: His films all feature men with strange abilities or obsessions, and he has a crippling fear of chickens.
** Not really a fear - more a hatred of chickens. It's their stupidity, apparently.
* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: An aversion himself, he also featured in a spectacular subversion. ErrolMorris was a young film maker who had a great idea for a documentary: the pet cemetery business. Herzog was afraid that he would abandon the project like he had several others. So Herzog cornered Morris and told him "I don't think that you are brave enough to finish a film. If you finish this film, I will eat my own shoe!" When Morris finished the film (''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_of_Heaven Gates of Heaven]]''), Herzog boiled and ate his shoe! (And to top it all off, a friend of his made a documentary about the incident called ''Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe''.)

* ''GrizzlyMan''

* ''EncountersAtTheEndOfTheWorld''

* AdamWesting: His appearance on ''TheBoondocks'' is essentially himself but a tad more self-aware and hammy.

* FauxlosophicNarration / NietzscheWannabe: Albeit in [[TropesAreNotBad a good way]]. BBC film critic MarkKermode (the interviewer when Herzog was shot with the air rifle) in particular seems to be a fan of Herzog's narration style and called him "The great Germanic nihilist". For example he thought ''EatPrayLove'' would have been improved if "Werner Herzog had come on and told her (JuliaRoberts) there is no God. The end".

* ''Theatre/{{Woyzeck}}''

* ''[[BadLieutenant Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans]]''