Editing Werner Herzog (section)

===Early and mid-career: 1962–2005===
Herzog, along with [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]], [[Wim Wenders]] and [[Volker Schlöndorff]], led the beginning of the [[New German Cinema]], which included documentarians who filmed on low budgets and were influenced by the [[French New Wave]]. He developed a habit of casting professional actors alongside people from the locality in which he was shooting. His films, "usually set in distinct and unfamiliar landscapes, are imbued with mysticism."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wernerherzog.com/long-biography.html|title=Werner Herzog Film – Long Biography|website=www.wernerherzog.com|access-date=29 November 2020|archive-date=27 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427195138/https://www.wernerherzog.com/long-biography.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Herzog says his youthful experience with Catholicism is evident in "something of a religious echo in my work".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUTsAwAAQBAJ&q=werner+herzog+bought+house+manchester&pg=PT32|title=Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin|isbn=978-0-571-25978-6|access-date=Nov 29, 2020|last1=Cronin|first1=Paul|date=5 August 2014|publisher=Faber & Faber|archive-date=16 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116063857/https://books.google.com/books?id=xUTsAwAAQBAJ&q=werner+herzog+bought+house+manchester&pg=PT32#v=snippet&q=werner%20herzog%20bought%20house%20manchester&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1971, while Herzog was [[location scouting]] for ''[[Aguirre, the Wrath of God]]'' in [[Peru]], he narrowly avoided taking [[LANSA Flight 508]]. Herzog's reservation was cancelled due to a last-minute change in itinerary. The plane was later struck by [[lightning]] and disintegrated, but one survivor, [[Juliane Koepcke]], lived after a free fall. Long haunted by the event, nearly 30 years later he made a documentary film, ''[[Wings of Hope (documentary)|Wings of Hope]]'' (1998), which explored the story of the sole survivor.

Herzog and his films have been nominated for and won many awards. His first major award was the [[Jury Grand Prix|Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury]] for his first feature film ''[[Signs of Life (1968 film)|Signs of Life]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1968/03_preistr_ger_1968/03_Preistraeger_1968.html |title=Berlinale 1968: Prize Winners |access-date=3 March 2010 |work=berlinale.de |archive-date=7 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107082140/http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1968/03_preistr_ger_1968/03_Preistraeger_1968.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> (''[[Nosferatu the Vampyre]]'' was also nominated for Golden Bear in 1979). Herzog won the Best Director award for ''[[Fitzcarraldo]]'' at the [[1982 Cannes Film Festival]]. In 1975, his movie ''[[The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser]]'' won the ''[[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]]'' (also known as the "Silver Palm") and the [[Prize of the Ecumenical Jury]] at the Cannes Festival. Other films directed by Herzog nominated for Golden Palm are: ''[[Woyzeck (1979 film)|Woyzeck]]'' (1979) and ''[[Where the Green Ants Dream]]'' (1984). His films have been nominated at many other festivals around the world: [[César Awards]] (''[[Aguirre, the Wrath of God]]''), [[Emmy Awards]] (''[[Little Dieter Needs to Fly]]''), [[European Film Awards]] (''[[My Best Fiend]]'') and [[Venice Film Festival]] (''[[Scream of Stone]]'' and ''[[The Wild Blue Yonder (2005 film)|The Wild Blue Yonder]]''). In 1987, Herzog and his half-brother Lucki Stipetić won the [[Bayerischer Filmpreis|Bavarian Film Award]] for Best Producing for the film ''[[Cobra Verde]]''.<ref>[http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325165025/http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf|date=25 March 2009}}</ref> In 2002, he won the Dragon of Dragons Honorary Award at the [[Kraków Film Festival]].

Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if [[Errol Morris]] completed a film project on pet cemeteries that he had been working on, in order to challenge and motivate Morris as he perceived Morris to be incapable of following up on the projects he conceived. In 1978, when the film ''[[Gates of Heaven]]'' premiered, Herzog cooked and publicly ate his shoe; the event was later incorporated into a short documentary, ''[[Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe]]'' (1980), by [[Les Blank]]. Herzog suggested that he hoped the act would serve to encourage anyone having difficulty bringing a project to fruition.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Abramovitch|first=Seth|date=2015-02-05|title=1979: When Werner Herzog Ate His Shoe|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/1979-werner-herzog-ate-his-770500/|access-date=2021-10-27|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US|archive-date=24 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224190554/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/1979-werner-herzog-ate-his-770500/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the winter of 1974, German-French writer [[Lotte H. Eisner]] (a friend and mentor of Herzog since the late 1950s) fell gravely ill; Herzog walked from [[Munich]] to [[Paris]], believing that she would not die if he did so.<ref name =Herzog>{{cite web| url = http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/werner-herzog-s-german-comeback-cinema-legend-heads-berlinale-jury-a-677080-3.html| title = Walking Himself into Intoxication| author = Beier, Lars-Olav| date = February 11, 2010| accessdate = April 5, 2017| publisher = Spiegel, Deutschland| archive-date = 13 February 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180213002743/http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/werner-herzog-s-german-comeback-cinema-legend-heads-berlinale-jury-a-677080-3.html| url-status = live}}</ref> During these travels, which took him three weeks, he kept a diary that would eventually be published as ''[[Of Walking in Ice]]''. Eight years later, the 87-year-old Eisner allegedly complained to Herzog of her infirmities and told him, "I am saturated with life. There is still this spell upon me that I must not die{{emdash}}can you lift it?" He says that he agreed to do so, and she died eight days later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2016/08/werner-herzog-tells-a-book-club-why-the-peregrine-is-one-of-his-favorite-books.html|title=Werner Herzog Tells a Book Club Why the Peregrine is One of His Favorite Books, a 20th-Century Masterpiece &#124; Open Culture|access-date=20 December 2023|archive-date=25 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125052844/https://www.openculture.com/2016/08/werner-herzog-tells-a-book-club-why-the-peregrine-is-one-of-his-favorite-books.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Herzog4.jpg|thumb|upright|Herzog at the [[1991 Venice International Film Festival]]]]
Werner Herzog moved to Los Angeles with his wife in the late 1990s. He said of the city, "Wherever you look is an immense depth, a tumult that resonates with me. New York is more concerned with finance than anything else. It doesn't create culture, only consumes it; most of what you find in New York comes from elsewhere. Things actually get done in Los Angeles. Look beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and a wild excitement of intense dreams opens up; it has more horizons than any other place. There is a great deal of industry in the city and a real working class; I also appreciate the vibrant presence of the Mexicans."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://laist.com/news/entertainment/werner-herzogs-take-on-los-angeles|title=Werner Herzog's Thoughts On Los Angeles Are Pretty Great|date=4 May 2015|website=LAist|access-date=16 February 2022|archive-date=16 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216152935/https://laist.com/news/entertainment/werner-herzogs-take-on-los-angeles|url-status=live}}</ref>