Werner Herzog’s greatest advice to aspiring filmmakers: “Go out and work as a bouncer in a sex club”
Werner Herzog is the maverick of modern filmmaking, with a fierce body of work that somehow defies the laws of the universe as the director sometimes risks his own life to capture something on film.
From Grizzly Bear and his documentation of a man intent on living with wild bears, to Aguirre, the Wrath of God and his upcoming fiction film Bucking Fastard, the director has never been one to play by the rules, creating a unique creative philosophy that is purely in pursuit of documenting truth in its most extreme and unflinching format.
While some might find his approach a little intense, with the director going to extreme lengths to capture his vision, it is an admirable mindset that is missing from most aspects of modern life, with Herzog sharing some timely advice on what aspiring filmmakers are doing wrong and how they should bring their stories to life.
Many directors are asked about what advice they would give to emerging filmmakers and those aspiring towards careers in Hollywood, with many offering vague and slightly obvious advice and platitudes about finding the “right people” or maintaining belief in your ideas. But when Herzog was asked this question, he gave an unsurprisingly detailed answer about what it truly means to be an artist and find the right stories to share.
While some creatives are told to find a stable job, abandon their artistic pursuits or go to film school, Herzog had quite the opposite piece of advice, saying, “I also say, if you are able-bodied, earn money to finance your first films, but don’t earn it with clerical work in an office. Go out and work as a bouncer in a sex club. Work as a warden in a lunatic asylum”.
Adding, “Go out to a cattle ranch and learn how to milk a cow. Earn your money that way, in real life. You do not become a poet by being in a college. And I teach them a few things, like forging a shooting permit. And I teach lock picking. You have to be good at that. And you better carry bolt cutters everywhere.”
The idea of working on a farm or lunatic asylum might be some people’s worst nightmare, but for Herzog, great stories spring from the darkest and most complex places, where he often seeks out the most unexpected stories by journeying into deserts, jungles and unexplored corners of the world.
In order to share meaningful stories, you need to have had meaningful experiences. In a world that strips us of our humanity, forces us into the cage of capitalism and convinces us that money is the most important thing in the world, taking on a job that makes you rich in experience and perspective is never encouraged. But without challenging experiences, how are we supposed to create challenging stories that disturb our patterns of thought and make us look at the world differently? Perhaps the only way to be a great filmmaker is to be many other things first.
