The movie Werner Herzog made because he couldn’t find his keys: “There was a messy desk”
There are an unlimited number of reasons and methods for a director to settle on their next project, but only Werner Herzog would end up committing to a feature after a misunderstanding when looking for his misplaced car keys.
It’s not even surprising, either, with eccentricities and idiosyncrasies part and parcel of the maverick auteur on every level. Ask any self-respecting cinephile which filmmaker would be most likely to agree to a film because they couldn’t find their keys, and most of them would have Herzog near the top of the list.
In fact, he was so entranced by the story being told that within the space of 30 days, he’d shot and edited the entire thing. This necessitated combing through hundreds of hours of footage, filming on location, and piecing together a 104-minute picture that won numerous awards and widespread acclaim.
And to think, if it wasn’t for his office being such a shambles, Grizzly Man might have never come together the way it did. Herzog’s intoxicating documentary follows Timothy Treadwell, who spent 13 summers living amongst a tribe of wild bears in an Alaskan nature reserve, with the animals growing so accustomed to his presence that he believed himself to be accepted as one of their own.
Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case, with Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard killed and almost entirely eaten by a grizzly in what was the first recorded incident of a fatal attack in the history of Katmai National Park. It’s an incredible, moving, and fascinating tale, which has typically Herzogian origins.
When asked what drew him to Grizzly Man, Herzog did admit he was fascinated by the events at its centre, but it was still a mix-up that brought him to that point. “There was a messy desk,” he told Devin Faraci. “And somebody who was very friendly with me shoved a piece of paper across because I was looking for my car keys.”
Herzog’s associate thought his eyes were hovering elsewhere, but really, he was hunting for his keys. “He thinks I spotted something in particular and shoves an article across on Timothy Treadwell and said to me, ‘Read this, we’re doing a film on him,'” he continued. “I read it and rushed back and said to him, ‘I’m going to do this film’, even though he planned to do it himself.”
The director “started almost immediately,” and 29 days later, he’d “shot and edited and delivered the film,” ready for release. That’s quite the turnaround, especially when Herzog was only enticed to direct Grizzly Man in the first place because those pesky car keys had made themselves scarce when he was in the middle of a conversation.
