GRIZZLY MAN, the latest film from director Werner Herzog, is a documentary about the life of Timothy Treadwell, a grizzly bear enthusiast who was mauled to death on a filming expedition in 2003.
How would you describe the film?
Let me put it this way, it became clear very quickly that this would not be a wildlife film but by a film of human nature.
What attracted you to Timothy Treadwell?
I had not seen any of the footage when I decided that I would make the film. I had a hunch that this was very big. Actually I was not even supposed to direct the film, someone else had the project, the producer Erik Nelson. I was searching for my keys and I saw an article on Timothy Treadwell on his messy desk. Nelson told me, “We are doing a fantastic project here.” I read the article and said I want to direct the film”
I find it very interesting in the way you approach documentary because you go out of your way to flag up the fictional element of the story. You seem to eschew cinema verite. Why is this your style and what do you find so interesting about this?
I think cinema verite and all the successive epigones of this cheap downgraded version of cinema verite; what you see on television quite a bit has had its day. We are in a time when we have to redefine reality. When you watch Reality TV of course it is not reality and is all made up. When you look at a photo it is somehow manipulated through photoshop. Everything in a Hollywood film has digital effects in it. Reality has been modified and manipulated, so we have to redefine reality.
Do you think Timothy would like the film you made?
Yes, yes. I think he would have liked the film because he was working on a big film with him as a great star in it. I give him the credit and the space to be a big star. I even give him the best background music to make him feel like a star. Of course I question him. I have an ongoing argument with him throughout the film.
The way you question him is in the way he interacts with the bears, but you also idolise him?
Because of his attitude towards nature and sentimentalising wild nature, of course I have an ongoing argument, but it is not a nasty argument. It is in the same way that I argue with my brother who I love.
Was it hard to edit the footage together?
I only had 9 days for editing and writing the very extensive commentary, including speaking and recording it and doing the premix so I didn’t have time to think. I just performed.
Why did you give yourself only 9 days?
It was not me. I was asked by the producers to do it. They said there is Sundance coming up and they’re viewing films now and they have a deadline for entry. I asked how many weeks do I have and they said, “Not weeks, its 10 days” and I thought for a moment and I said, “yes I think I can cope with it, if I don’t manage it in 10 days then fine, lets just forget about Sundance.” But it fell in place so easily and it fell in place so easily because great footage always fits together.
So you don’t buy into the philosophy that a film is made in the editing room?
No, great footage fits blindly.
Was it hard editing the footage together?
Yes, I mean it was so unbelievable what I saw. Because I only saw Timothy’s footage after I shot my film. Well Grizzly Man is about 50% what I shot and 50% what Treadwell produced. After I shot my footage than I started to see Treadwell’s material and you could not have scripted the film better, staged it better it was just something beyond belief.
What was the most powerful moment of meeting his friends and family for you?
It is not in the film and it is I think not mentioned in the film when the coroner showed me the photos of the remains. I think that was even worse than the tape where it is recorded how both of them are dying and screaming for their life. That was terrifying, but the photos even worse.
I feel that you tease the audience with the tape?
I’m not teasing the audience. You see the moment I listened to it, I knew instantly, I did not ever really have an intention to air the tape on the film. Everyday, there was a question from the distributor, network and producer saying what about the tape, “Can’t we listen to it?” And I said let me listen to it first. Once I’d listened to it, it was so horrifying that it was clear that we were not doing a snuff movie. Also there is something to do with privacy of your own death. I think that the dignity and privacy of his own death and it was clear there was no way it would be in the film and beside June Palleback would not have allowed it either.
You also insist she doesn’t listen to the tape?
She hasn’t done it, but of course I spontaneously under this shock said destroy it, which she didn’t do, she was much wiser. After giving my advice to destroy the tape to her, she slept one or two nights over it and then removed the tape from the shelf and put it in a safety deposit box in a bank vault. It is locked away but it still exists.
Do you think June will listen to it, or have you put her off it?
I don’t know for sure, but I think she is not going to.
Having stumbled on the Treadwell story by accident, do you feel that your life is ruled by fate?
No, it has nothing to do with fate. It has to do with certain visions out there, like spinning rays of light and beacons, somewhere out there in the ocean they cross each other. I think there is something that was very obvious that Treadwell and I would come together. Everyone who knew Treadwell says that we would have got along together even though we are so different and Treadwell would have felt alright with me, because I compliment him. I’, more disciplined and as a story teller I have a clearer vision than what he had.
Was it hard to watch all of his footage?
I had people helping me with viewing all the 100 hours of footage he’d shot. That would have taken me 10 days alone.I had 4 people shifting through this material and I saw something like 10 hours. They were clearly instructed in what to look for and most of what Treadwell shot was fluffy bear cubs and fishing. But even this was difficult as my assistants overlooked some of the most beautiful images that I’ve ever seen in my life; the paws of the fox on the tent. From inside the tent you see that there are these paws and Treadwell’s hands come up and scratch at the soles of these paws and it was discarded as too shaky, it is so bouncy that it was never considered by those who assisted me and I think it is the most beautiful of any footage I’ve ever seen so I used it. I think Treadwell would have overlooked it in the same way.
Grizzly man was a huge success on its release in the United States. Are you ever surprised by what is successful and not?
I was not really aware of this success because I was deep in the jungle close to the border of Burma shooting my new film Rescue Dawn. I only had some very distant echoes that it was doing well, very, very well actually for a documentary. It had several very good reviews. I think that it was the best reviewed film in America last year and that’s including feature films. I know it’s a good film.
Interview courtesy of Revolver
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