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It's a remake/retelling of Little Dieter Needs To Fly. Trailer here

It's also his first Hollywood-funded film. There was an long and very fascinating article about this film and the troubles Herzog ran into with his Hollywood producers and crew during the shooting of the film in the New Yorker a few weeks ago.

That's an extremely disheartening first look at the movie. Hopefully it's just a case of Extreme Traileritis, and the film itself will be far more interesting. But I don't know...if ever there was an uneasy coupling, it would be Herzog and Hollywoood.

I really dug the trailer and felt it had a Thin Red Line vibe to it. But I guess the overall pitch of the movie depends on how much they interfered with Herzog in the editing room.

Denti Alligator, if you have a link to the New Yorker article, I'd love to read it.

Love Herzog, but that trailer almost makes me not want to see the film.

I think the trailer's fine... I just hope the film isn't as badly interlaced as that was. Was it really shot on digital?

Barmy wrote:Love Herzog, but that trailer almost makes me not want to see the film.

I loved his Dieter doc so I'll see the film even if it's a dog.

Thanks for the link to the insightful and fascinating interview.

It may put the style of the trailer in perspective if you know that Steve Marlton and Elton Brand, the producers of the film, are also the producers of Bottom's Up starring Paris Hilton and Jason Mewes. And yes, it's that Elton Brand.

A read of the New Yorker article should remove most doubt about the potential quality of the actual film, but not all.

matt wrote:Bottom's Up starring Paris Hilton and Jason Mewes

Best. Sex Tape. Ever.

The idea of Elton Brand producing a Werner Herzog movie is perhaps the strangest single thing I have ever heard in my life.

denti alligator wrote:There was an long and very fascinating article about this film and the troubles Herzog ran into with his Hollywood producers and crew during the shooting of the film in the New Yorker a few weeks ago.

It was a pretty depressing read, and might just explain why Herzog's fiction features have been so weak of late. He's trying to make a Herzog film while his crew are trying to unmake it and make a Spielberg movie instead. On the basis of the article, I'll be amazed if the film is a great one. In fact, I'll be amazed if we even get to see it in Herzog's preferred form.

rs98762001 wrote:The idea of Elton Brand producing a Werner Herzog movie is perhaps the strangest single thing I have ever heard in my life.

Well, he did go to Duke. Maybe he took a few film courses to pad the ol' grade point average (though he did enter the draft early).

There's just so much that doens't make sense about this production, things that just don't go together, that there's no way it can't be interesting. I'm there! (though probably in my living room on DVD.)

Thanks very much for the link to the New Yorker article, a fascinating if somewhat depressing read. In particular I was shocked by the arrogance of the crew, who apparently were either unaware or unimpressed by Herzog's filmography. Why else would they assume they knew better? The most offensive line was the one about "I'm the film school guy - he's the famous guy." Spoken like a true wannabe/never-was. And the producer suggesting Herzog take a look at The Rundown - words don't express it!

A terrific article indeed. Thanks a lot for the link. I am looking forward to "Rescue Dawn" now more than ever, because I have a firm belief that Herzog will have created something special even through all of this mess... and the article I think hints at that.

yea, i was pretty amazed by the contempt of herzog's crew as shown in that article. can everyone on the set truly be ignorant of his long history? however, i will say i was heartened to read that herzog was discarding most or all of the second-unit footage in the editing process. i think as long as herzog gets to do the editing, this will still be worth seeing.

although, i will say i can't really fathom why herzog would want to make this film at all. the dieter documentary was pretty much the perfect presentation of this material, getting totally into the mindset, emotions, and ideas at the heart of this subject. i can't imagine how a hollywood-style dramatization of the same material will add anything new or better. as i said, i'm sure it'll be interesting provided there's no studio interference, but it still feels somewhat redundant.

What a fascinating article. Herzog is certainly a journalists wet dream in terms of quotes Aside from Herzog On Herzog are there any other definitive Herzog books out there? I always knew Herzog was an interesting character but this article makes me want to dig a bit deeper.

As per the film, I'm quite suprised that Bale's people would let him get involved in such a financially shaky production. The fact that about 6 months passed before they were able to secure finances for editing really surprised me. But as long as Bale got his fee I guess that's they all they care about.

This from Gibraltar Films website doesn't fill me with confidence:

From Gibraltar Films' own production stable in 2005, we are thrilled to launch Rescue Dawn, a highly anticipated blockbuster project re-teaming cinematic aces Christian Bale and Steve Zahn.

What is a cinematic ace?

Is it "Recue" or "Rescue"?

New trailer and poster. Looks a little better and it's not horribly interlaced like the last one. Still, they must've really chosen the most exciting two minutes of the movie and just loaded it into the trailer, because I can't believe Herzog made a movie even closely resembling what the trailer reveals. Some of the dialogue comes off as corny in the trailer, when I think in the film itself it will have the usual surreal fabrication of a Herzog monologue (like when Zahn says "the jungle is the prison").

I wish Werner the best, but that trailer is bloody awful. Almost like a parody.

re: the crews's arrogance:

i can speak from experience re: "professionals" and "individuals"..
on one hand, I've worked with Mr. herzog, and seen first hand how some people "get it" and others just don't. there is a way of looking at life that is the fundamental crux of it all. When you see film from that perspective, the perspective of this crew, for instance, you have to remember they have no way of understanding how it can be done any other way if they can not refer to any personal experience or personal connection to that spark that makes it possible. some who may not subscribe so regularly to the rules of their profession can look on and say, "this person is interesting", or , "how is he going to do that? i'm curious", but even with that open mind they can only sympathize, because they do not have the experience of working and creating in that way, so to them it is not arrogance, to them it is prudence, based on the rules of the world they live. there are professionals who DO have that experience, in this case, those who have worked with mr. herzog in the past and have seen how he makes it work, and as i'm sure you all notice, these situations usually result in sometimes endless allegiance with an artist. you red it all the time.. "despite X's reputation, Y has worked with him for years and years and can only explain "Well, X has his ways...".....
I've experienced it first hand countless times in the music world. "why are you putting that mic there? he's irresponsible, he won't get any of the hi-hat" etc. it doens't matter that i have a grammy for that stuff, or i have been doing it for years and years, it is outside the world of experience for them..that's the crux.
i'm in the midst of jetlag, so i apologize if this rambles, but it was an aspect of this sad sad article i wanted to write about. i was glad to read the article, but i personally thought the article itself didn't show mr. herzog enough respect. but then again, i'm on the other side of that camp, haha, the one who says "It's ...Werner....Herzog....! of course he knows what he's doing" (even when he doesn't, and it's that spirit to reach for something, to risk a failure to reach for something out of the grasp of your perception that seperates mr. herzog from those with technical talent. and technical talent should be respected, but there is a difference.)

i'm hoping joe bini edited it, then it'll be fine. i can't find edit credits for the film anywhere! crossing fingers, and still loving the man either way,

Finally read the whole article. Best part: The part where his wife recalls being in the jungle on a trip, sleeping out in the open on hammocks with a cannibal tribe in the area. When a noise woke her up she freaked out and screamed "Werner, it's them!" to which he replies "When they come, we won't hear them" and then falls back asleep.

Man, I wish I was even 1/1000th as kickass as this guy.

Cringe with me, now... Steve Zahn. Why do I feel like I'm looking at Fellini directing Jim Nabors?