Paul Cronin
Quit that Moody Brooding – Werner Herzog in America
There are many stories about Werner Herzog’s life and work, often bizarre accounts and anecdotes that he has done little or nothing to deny or disavow. In recent years a new phenomenon has sprung up: Wholesale parodies that speak directly to some of the more colourful and perhaps invented stories about him that have circulated over the decades. Of late Herzog hasn’t just acknowledged the existence of such things – found on television, in feature films and swarm-ing over the Internet – he has taken to involving himself in the best of them. This illustrated talk pulls together some of the most interesting examples, and includes clips of The Simpsons, Entourage and Zak Penn’s film The Grand.
Paul Cronin, born 1972, writer and director. His films include “Look out Haskell, it’s real!” – The Making of Medium Cool (2001), Film as subversive Art: Amos Vogel and Cinema 16 (2003) and In the Beginning was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead (2006). Currently he is working on A Time to Stir, an historical documentary about the student protests at Columbia University in 1968. He is the editor of several volumes, including Alexander Mackendrick’s On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director, and interview books with the directors Werner Herzog, Roman Polanski and Arthur Penn. Currently he is writing a book about Haskell Wexler’s 1969 feature Medium Cool, collaborating with triple-Oscar winning production sound mixer Chris Newman on a book, and working with Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami on an interview book.