Even if filmmaker Werner Herzog sat in his home all day, every day, without any sort of social interaction, the man would still have one of the most interesting lives imaginable, based solely on the films he’s created. But the director doesn’t stay indoors. Sometimes, he goes outside and saves Oscar-winning actors, such as Joaquin Phoenix, from blowing themselves up after a car accident.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Herzog is reminded of a story about when, years ago, he found Joaquin Phoenix in a wrecked car on the side of the road. Phoenix has talked about this before, but we’ve yet to hear the filmmaker’s side of things. And as he describes it, Herzog wasn’t so concerned about who the person in the flipped car was, but instead, the director was worried about his smoking habit.
“Yes, although he was upside down in this car, squished between airbags that had deployed and wildly trying to light a cigarette,” explained Herzog.
He added, “I knew he must not light his cigarette, because there was gasoline dripping and he would have perished in a fireball. So I tried to be clearly commandeering to him and tell him not to. But I was worried that if you gave him a command, he would strike his lighter even harder. So I managed to snatch the cigarette lighter from his hand. Then it became completely clear that it was Joaquin. But I didn’t want to speak to him after. I saw he wanted to come over and thank me. I just drove off.”
Admit it, every story you have pales in comparison to a tale such as that. How can we, mere mortals, ever experience something that rivals snatching the cigarettes and lighter away from the Joker before he explodes in a fiery blaze on the side of the road? If you saw that in a movie, you’d swear it was made up. Yet, that’s just a day in the life of Werner Herzog.
The rest of the interview, as you might suspect, is filled with gold, including discussions about using acid on his enemies and being shot at multiple times. It’s wild.