German director Werner Herzog, who is responsible for numerous classics, including Aguirre, the Wrath of God, wasn’t the easiest man to work with. Known for being extremely passionate about his craft, the director can often come as cantankerous according to Christian Bale, who joined forces with the German director to craft a critically acclaimed war film, which failed at the box office.
But apart from Rescue Dawn‘s tumultuous development, this isn’t the only time hell broke loose on the sets of a Herzog-led film, as back in the 70s, the director threatened to shoot one of his actors.
When Werner Herzog threatened to kill the Hollywood icon
To say that actor Klaus Kinski and director Werner Herzog’s bond was complicated would be an understatement. Collaborating on five movies throughout their working relationship, one of the two’s greatest works remains 1972’s Aguirre, Wrath of God, which would not have seen the end of the day without the director’s extreme tactics. Considering he was already warned that other directors were not interested in working with the actor, Herzog was adamant about making the movie successful.
And according to reports, the late actor once decided to abandon the project once and for all after an assistant cameraman grinned during shooting. But following the director’s adamancy to complete this project, Herzog threatened to pull out his rifle and put a kibosh on Kinski’s tantrums. Herzog recounted,
“I said to him, ‘I do have a rifle,’ very calmly. He could try to take the boat and he might reach the next bend of the river but he would have eight bullets through his head. But of course there were nine bullets, and I said, ‘Guess who gets the last one?’ And he looked at me and he understood it was not a joke anymore. I would have done it. He understood he better behave.”
The director’s tactic did work out, as he explained Kinski was very disciplined throughout the remaining days of shooting. But years later, industry giant Christian Bale would find himself in one of Werner Herzog’s films, Rescue Dawn, and although the experience was intense too, he did commend the director for being disciplined and committed.
Matt Damon turned down Rescue Dawn before Christian Bale accepted the project
Christian Bale didn’t have an easy time working on the Werner Herzog-led Rescue Dawn, as he ate live maggots, tussled with dangerous serpents, and lost a substantial amount of weight to do the movie justice. But before Bale, Matt Damon seriously considered taking the role but eventually turned it down in favor of another movie, Stuck on You, stating that his mother talked him out of this. He said,
“You don’t always have to go into the jungle and lose a bunch of weight; you’re allowed to have fun,”
But despite the extreme effort from Christian Bale, the end product struggled at the box office, only making $10 Million in total, despite being a hit among critics.
Rescue Dawn is available to stream on Apple TV.
Source: Slash Film
