When Mick Jagger almost starred in a Werner Herzog film
Few rockstars will ever achieve the cultural stature of Mick Jagger, but filmmakers from around the world value him for a different reason. To most, Jagger represents a cinematic enigma – someone who could have evolved into a transcendental icon through the film medium but failed to do so.
While Jagger did have memorable outings in cult productions such as Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s Performance, his cinematic output has been relatively lacklustre when considering his potential. This wasted potential has become even more evident in recent years due to mediocre projects like The Burnt Orange Heresy.
Despite his cinematic trajectory, Martin Scorsese has always been an advocate. While speaking about Jagger, he once said: “Here’s a guy who has been at the centre of the music industry for many years, on multiple levels, and he has what appears to be a perfect memory as well as a rich sense of character and of drama, of cinema. […] Who could be a better artistic collaborator?”
There was one other director who saw the great heights that Jagger was capable of reaching. That filmmaker was none other than Werner Herzog, the great German auteur, who cast Jagger in his iconic 1982 masterpiece Fitzcarraldo but the rockstar’s appearance in the film just wasn’t meant to be.
A pioneering adventure epic, Fitzcarraldo follows the unending ambition of a man who is determined to get his steamship across a hill to gain access to rubber resources. Like many other Herzog films, an open allegory about the human condition, Fitzcarraldo would have been an outstanding addition to Jagger’s filmography.
The film’s production was a nightmare due to many reasons, including Herzog’s insistence on manually transporting the 320-ton ship up a steep hill. Herzog had also planned on casting Jack Nicholson as the main character with Jagger as his assistant, but none of those plans ultimately came to fruition.
Eventually, Jagger was forced to abandon the project because he had to go on a tour with the Rolling Stones. While looking back on the chance to direct the rockstar, Herzog lamented the missed opportunity. He said: “Jagger is a tragic gap in the history of film. He hasn’t been praised enough as someone who could have been a great actor.”
