The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog, 2009)

[Nothing]

So is Herzog in town yet?

[Sanjuro]

Lotte Eisner liked Herzog too, and I'm pretty sure she was German. There are lots of people who like Herzog's work, why is it so mysterious that Americans do too?

[justeleblanc]

So is Herzog in town yet?

This would be when Herzog would say "action" am I right?

[foliagecop]

If there's anyone who wouldn't be put off filming by something as insignificant as a potentially devastating hurricane, it's Herr Herzog.

[kaujot]

"It is just some wind. It is not a significant storm."

[Fletch F. Fletch]

The war of words continues in the press as Ferrara lashes out at the production in this interview. A particularly memorable passage:

Filmmaker: What are your feelings about Werner Herzog doing his version of Bad Lieutenant?

Ferrara: He can die in hell. I hate these people – they suck. A, he don't know me, couldn't pick me out of a line-up. B, I'm chasing windmills. Well, I'd rather chase windmills than steal other people's ideas. It's lame. I can't believe Nic Cage is trying to play that part. I mean, if the kid needed the money...

Someone from the production responded:

An insider on the new Bad Lieutenant team, responding to the Abel Ferrara item posted earlier this morning, explains it all: "The whole reason the film was made was because [executive producer] Avi Lerner got hold of the rights, which he bought from Ed Pressman for an undisclosed sum. And he went out and pre-sold the film in ten countries for $30 million, or an average of $3 million per country.

"Lerner funded the film for $20 million, and pocketed $10 million for himself. Nic Cage, who likes New Orleans and owns a home there, took a substantial pay cut -- only about $2 million -- because he wanted to work with [director] Werner Herzog, who probably got his first decent payday check out of this deal. William Finklestein's script wasn't good but Herzog upgraded it considerably. Lerner didn't even look at the script."

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Two things:

1. I find it suspicious at best, reprehensible at worst, that Herzog claimed to not know anything about the original film (if I am remembering this incorrectly, please say so). I suppose you could chalk that up to his impressive manipulation of his own image, but for someone as talented and learned as Herzog, it seems disingenuous.

2. I highly doubt that this will have been Herzog's "first decent payday check" -- the man has an enormous filmography, and even if only about two-thirds of it is in-print on DVD, there's no denying his status as a world-class artist, and whatever difficulties he might have financing projects, I doubt at this point he wants for food and shelter.

All that aside, he remains one of my favorite directors, and as much as I loathe the idea of remaking Bad Lieutenant, I still look forward to the results.

[Mr Sausage]

1. I find it suspicious at best, reprehensible at worst, that Herzog claimed to not know anything about the original film (if I am remembering this incorrectly, please say so). I suppose you could chalk that up to his impressive manipulation of his own image, but for someone as talented and learned as Herzog, it seems disingenuous.

Herzog's sincerity seems an odd thing to worry over. But what could possibly be "reprehensible" about any of this? The lack of reverence being paid to the (obviously loved) original shouldn't be troubling when one considers that the best credentials for making such a movie come not from slavishly absorbing the original Bad Lieutenant, but from having made Aguirre, the Wrath of God. That alone is all Herzog needs to tell the story of a police officer floundering in the mire of his own soul.

[Antoine Doinel]

Apparently, Herzog thinks Bad Lieutenant is franchise material.

[hot_locket]

Apparently, Herzog thinks Bad Lieutenant is franchise material.

Cage basically re-iterates what Herzog has always said about the Bad Lieutenant "franchise", in his efforts to distance himself from the original film. What worries me is this:

Speaking at a London press conference for his new movie Knowing (released today in cinemas, March 25), the actor said he was looking forward to working with director Werner Herzog and described the idea of reviving the Bad Lieutenant as “so audacious I couldn’t resist”.

"Looking forward"? I thought this was shot... like a while ago.

[statsman]

I just saw "Bad Lieutenant" last night. I thought it was the most amazing representation of Christian ethos on film since "Tender Mercies". Its NC-17 rating will always keep it from being accepted as such, but this film is remarkable for its representation of grace.

Remakes are funny. My understanding is that decades ago, remakes were much more common, and often separated by just a few years ("Maltese Falcon" is an example, I think). As a movie goer, I am generally in favor of any remake that augments or improves the original representation.

It's going to be hard for Herzog to match this movie, even if it's a re-imagining more than a remake. It will be especially hard if he makes it more existentialist than Christian. I don't see how the ending

Spoiler

Keitel gives the rapists the $30K he needs to pay the bookie to stay alive, and foregoes the reward that would make him clear of all debts

makes sense in any value system other than a Christian one (and quite a few Christians probably don't get this). How will existentialism handle this? Will he, Sartre-like, transcend pedestrian values and morals? If the movie just becomes a high budget exhibition of human degradation, he will only match Ferraro's first two acts.

[MichaelB]

Some revelations in today's Guardian:

His next film, currently being edited, is a sort of non-sequel sequel to Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Herzog, with admirable perversity, has never seen Ferrara's original and never plans to. He was approached by producer Ed Pressman, who owned the rights to the Bad Lieutenant title and wanted to reuse it. Herzog hopes his film will be "a new kind of film noir, which always seems to make sense in certain dire situations like now". Why take the project on at all? "I was assured [by the producers] that this was not related to another film of a similar name. I told them, 'If you swear on the heads of your children.' I also had hints from Nicolas Cage that he wouldn't sign unless he knew I was directing, which is a good way to start a film."

The film was shot in New Orleans, hence Herzog's subtitle - Port of Call New Orleans. "The producers were adamant about New Orleans because of tax incentives. It appealed to me because, after Katrina, you were in a situation where civil life came to a breakdown. Not merely because the hurricane caused a lot of material destruction, but it also created a collapse of civility - looting and, by the way, the police were heavily involved in that, too. This basic situation I found fascinating - way beyond the tax incentives, of course."

[Adam]

Raising the obvious question, maybe not a remake or reimagining, but just a different film using the same title.

[Antoine Doinel]

Yeah, but how are you going to snag the huge base of original Bad Lieutenant fans?

I understand the producer logic behind using the same title, but they could'nt have picked a more ridiculous movie to start a "franchise" if they tried.

[New Groundhog]

I can't believe I'm the first to post this.

TRAILER

[flyonthewall2983]

I can't believe my eyes.

[tajmahal]

"Shoot him again, his soul's still dancing"

It looks like we might at last get to see Nic Cage let off the leash. Not what I was expecting, but it looks like a hell of a ride. I'm interested now.

The big question is, will this film fund the next great Werner Herzog film we have been waiting for for so long.

[kaujot]

The trailer seems so upbeat, considering the subject matter.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Haha, dig the patented "Twirling Kinski Entrance" at :40

[knives]

That is too funny. It will probably end up as Herzog's worst yet, but it still looks like a blast.

[hot_locket]

Haha, dig the patented "Twirling Kinski Entrance" at :40

Noticed that too.

NO WAY Herzog didn't add the last line of the trailer himself; who else could come up with that?

[Applesauce]

Thanks for the link. Looks fantastically funny. Cage is at his best when he's allowed to nut it up.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Thing is, Cage could never frighten me like Keitel did... OTOH, I didn't realize Kilmer was in this, maybe he'd have been better in the title role.

[flyonthewall2983]

Thing is, Cage could never frighten me like Keitel did... OTOH, I didn't realize Kilmer was in this, maybe he'd have been better in the title role.

Amen to that (on both points). Harvey was an animal, letting any shade of moral or physical vanity not get in the way of the beast-like qualities of his character.

[Cde.]

Hilarious, and strangely Herzogian.

I hope this isn't a misleading trailer.

And I can't believe I'm the first one posting THIS.
Somehow I wish 'TRAILER1' was related to this film/Herzog as well.