WERNER HERZOG'S FILM LESSONS: "LET HIM DIE!"

Werner Herzog, pound-for-pound the world's greatest documentary filmmaker, is starting up his own online film school.

We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Herzog a while back, when we were still struggling to get somewhere with our film portrait of Jerry Andrus, the magician's magician considered the world's foremost expert on optical illusions.

Herzog is a delightful guy and was very open to discussing our work. He loved the idea and thought Jerry was an ideal subject - one that he himself might have chosen.

We told him we were in a big hurry to edit the film, and he nodded his head vigorously.

"Yes, yes," he said, "you must edit very quickly. Two years!"

We had been thinking more like two months! Jerry was still alive at the time and we expressed our anguish that we might not be able to finish the film before he died. Herzog gave us a piece of advice that struck like lightning:

"Let him die!"

He continued: "And here's how to edit. Divide your footage into 'good' footage and 'great' footage. Then, use only the 'great' footage!"

We're still working to finish the film, which needs professional fine-cut editing, color correction, etc., and has only languished because of lack of funds. We'll be mounting an Indiegogo campaign to fix that little problem soon. As Herzog says: "There is no excuse for not finishing a film!"







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