Biography Flash: Werner Herzog at 84 Talks AI Venice and His Untitled Next Film

Werner Herzog Biography Flash a weekly Biography. Werner Herzog has spent the past few days very much in the public eye, with a cluster of festival appearances, market buzz, and outspoken interviews that are likely to become key footnotes in his late‑career biography. According to Reuters coverage from Venice and multiple festival reports, his new narrative feature Bucking Fastard, his first scripted drama since Family Romance, LLC in 2019, premiered at the Venice Film Festival, with Kate and Rooney Mara playing sisters who speak in perfect unison and Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson in support. Venice reports say the film drew a warm reception from audiences while critics were sharply divided, some praising the audacity, others calling it confusing and clumsy, a split that may define how this 84‑year‑old phase of Herzog’s work is remembered. IndieWire reports that Herzog turned down an out‑of‑competition slot at Cannes so Bucking Fastard could compete seriously at Venice, and that the film is now doing the full prestige circuit, with Telluride already completed and Toronto and the New York Film Festival next on the itinerary. In parallel, The Hollywood Reporter and other trade coverage of Toronto’s new official film market describe Bucking Fastard as one of the top draws, with buyers circling a project that reunites the Mara sisters in leading roles and marks Herzog’s return to narrative cinema at scale. That market positioning suggests the film could have substantial long‑term commercial and critical impact, not just as a late work but as a sales asset in a newly boosted North American market structure. In interviews around Venice, including a long conversation in Die Zeit, Herzog has also been unusually expansive about politics and culture, dismissing calls for party bans as something “only cretins” demand and warning against symbolic responses to populism while emphasizing real social alienation. The same interview and follow‑up coverage in Austrian outlet OÖNachrichten note that he now has nearly a million Instagram followers, yet still does not own a smartphone, relying on his son to manage an account he says will only contain short “vignettes with substance.” He sharply criticizes social media, saying an entire generation has been lost to its “wahnwitzige Flachheit,” or insane flatness, a biographically revealing stance on technology and youth culture. IndieWire further reports that Herzog has condemned an AI‑generated documentary that mimics his style, calling the project “phenomenally, abysmally stupid” and welcoming AI to “replace all the idiots” who do nothing but repeat formulaic storytelling. In the same conversation he reveals that he has practically finished another, as‑yet‑untitled film and is preparing a photo book for Taschen, while still nurturing the long‑standing idea of making a film in space. Coverage of the Bong Joon‑ho animated feature Ally also notes that Herzog is lending his voice to that project, extending his sideline as a distinctive voice actor for high‑profile animation. On the social‑media and gossip‑column side, festival chatter has picked up a separate thread: a recent interview, summarized by GreeceNewsDesk, in which Herzog explains that he distanced himself from David Lynch because Lynch wanted to talk about world peace and meditation, topics Herzog implies are not where his interests lie. So far there are no counter‑statements from Lynch, and no indication of a serious feud, but the comment has fueled speculation about a philosophical split between two cult directors. That speculation remains unconfirmed beyond Herzog’s own remark; there is no verified timeline or deeper narrative yet. Meanwhile, Telluride coverage has kept Herzog’s name in circulation in a different way: the surprise premiere of the Theranos documentary You Can See Everything was staged in the festival’s Werner Herzog Theater, prompting a wave of headlines that use his name as a geographical anchor even though he is not involved in the project. It is, however, another reminder of how embedded his persona is in the infrastructure of contemporary cinephilia. Taken together, the past few days show Werner Herzog as a late‑career filmmaker refusing to coast: premiering ambitious new work, taking strong positions on AI, social media, and politics, quietly finishing yet another film, and stepping into voice roles for other auteurs. As always with Herzog, some of the more tantalizing hints — the near‑finished mystery movie, the space‑film ambition — are speculative until contracts and titles surface, but the direction of travel is clear: at 84, he is still building, not merely curating, his own legend. Thank you for listening, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an update on Werner Herzog, and search the term Biography Flash for more great biographies. Thanks for listening. This has been a Quiet Please production. Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta