Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog starring Klaus Kinski as the title character, the entrepreneur and would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (nickname: Fitzcarraldo).

Related Topics:
1982 - Werner Herzog - Klaus Kinski

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The film is roughly based on the true story of Fitzgerald, who was a railroad owner living in the frontier city of Iquitos, Peru. A fan of the great tenor Enrico Caruso, Fitzgerald's dream was to bring the opera to Iquitos rather than having to travel down the Amazon to the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, another rubber-boom town. Fizgerald, relying on the support of investors and the local madam, attempts to harvest rubber in an area of the jungle previosly thought to be inaccessible.

Related Topics:
Iquitos - Peru - Enrico Caruso - Opera - Manaus - Brazil

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Interestingly, although the male and female leads are played by European actors (Claudia Cardinale plays Fitzgerald's lover), the original soundtrack was recorded in English, as Cardinale spoke no German.

Related Topics:
Claudia Cardinale - Soundtrack - English - German

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Herzog originally cast Jason Robards in the title role, but he became ill during the shoot and was eventually replaced by Kinski. Mick Jagger also had a role as Fitzcarraldo's assistant. When Robards left due to illness, forty percent of the film had already been completed and would have to be reshot from the beginning. Mick Jagger had to leave the film to go on tour, and his character was removed from the reshoot. Werner Herzog was considering playing the character of Fitzcarraldo himself until Klaus Kinski had agreed to play the part. The film was then reshot in German.

Related Topics:
Jason Robards - Mick Jagger - Werner Herzog - Klaus Kinski

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The film was an incredible ordeal and famously involved moving a 340-ton steam ship over a mountain without special effects. Scenes were also shot on board the ship while it crashed through rapids, injuring three of the six people involved in the filming. Two full-size ships were created for the making of the film.

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Herzog was criticized for taking advantage of the hundreds of local people in the jungles near Iquitos (who also appear in the film), a claim that Herzog voraciously denies.

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Klaus Kinski was also a major source of tension as he fought with Herzog and other members of the crew and greatly upset the native extras. In his documentary My Best Fiend, Herzog says that one of the native chiefs offered to murder Kinski for him, and he once told Kinski that if he carried out a threat to leave the film he would shoot both Kinski and himself in the head.

Related Topics:
Klaus Kinski - My Best Fiend

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Werner Herzog, after completing one of the most difficult films ever to be made, won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary Burden of Dreams is about the making of the film. Herzog also discusses the making of the film in a section of his own documentary, My Best Fiend.

Related Topics:
Cannes Film Festival - Burden of Dreams - My Best Fiend

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