‘Rescue Dawn’: The chaotic movie production Werner Herzog said was a “great joy” to make
If there was ever a director who loved a challenging movie production, then it is certainly Werner Herzog. After all, this is the filmmaker who made his 1982 epic adventure-drama film Fitzcarraldo, a movie about a man determined to transport a steamship over a massive hill to access a rich rubber source in the Amazon basin by actually getting his crew to haul a 320-ton steamship over said hill.
Herzog has never shied away from the natural problems that arise when making a film, and he frequently clashed with his regular collaborator, the actor Klaus Kinski, who had also worked with the German director on Aguirre, Wrath of God, which itself had been one hell of a production, taking place in the Peruvian rainforest on the Amazon river.
Looking across Herzog’s filmography, which also includes the likes of Stroszek, Nosferatu the Vampyre and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, as well as the documentaries Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Grizzly Man and My Best Friend, it’s clear to see that Herzog has taken every challenge of every movie he has handled in full stride, leading to a reputation as one of European cinema’s all-time greats.
As such, Herzog has worked with some of the biggest names, even in Hollywood. In 2006, he signed Christian Bale up for Rescue Dawn to play Dieter Dengler, a German-American pilot who was shot down and captured by villagers during the Vietnam War. Herzog had already focused on Dengler in his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and Rescue Dawn explores his experience as a prisoner of war.
Around the same time, Herzog had been making his documentary Encounters at the End of the World, which focuses on Antarctica. In an interview with the BBC, he once spoke of the difference between shooting there and in the jungles of Thailand for Rescue Dawn, noting, “Well, it’s a culture shock and a shock in terms of the environment. In Antarctica, you cannot prepare much because you cannot scout Antarctica.”
He continued: “So, I went there once and had to come back with a movie. That was a bit of pressure but I was very, very fascinated by the landscapes and the people who are there, so it was a great joy to make this film”.
Seeing as Herzog was able to spend more time in Thailand, he found a deeper sense of joy in being able to throw himself into the production of Rescue Dawn, especially coming off the back of a quick yet freezing trip to Antarctica.
One might have thought that Herzog would have faced many problems in the jungle, but considering the fact that he’d already shot in such environments for Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, Wrath of God, he was able to face up to it. “It’s not such a big challenge,” the filmmaker admitted. “A jungle is basically just another forest. But of course, we were ploughing into the densest jungle you can imagine”.
He added: “It was very, very physical. I told the actors that this is going to be for real so ‘brace yourself, you’re going to do things you’re never going to do in your life’. It was 44 days. I actually finished shooting two days under schedule, which meant that even under some chaotic circumstances, I pulled it off very professionally.”
