Fitzcarraldo
Short description
Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, known as Fitzcarraldo, lives in Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon and is devoted to opera. He wants to build an opera house there, and to raise the money he buys a rubber concession along the Ucayali River, a region made hard to reach by rapids and distance. With a river steamer, he sets out into the rainforest, and his plan for the vessel defies everything the terrain would normally allow. Klaus Kinski plays Fitzcarraldo, with Claudia Cardinale as Molly, José Lewgoy as Don Aquilino, Miguel Ángel Fuentes as Cholo, Paul Hittscher as Orinoco Paul and Huerequeque Enrique Bohórquez as Huerequeque, among a credited cast of twenty-five.
Werner Herzog directed and wrote the screenplay, and produced alongside Lucki Stipetić. The film is the eighth of the twenty-two he has directed in chronological order, arriving after Woyzeck in 1979 and before Cobra Verde in 1987. It was shot in Germany and Peru on a budget of about seven million dollars and runs 157 minutes.
It was released in March 1982. On IMDb it holds 7.9 out of 10 from roughly 43,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.6 out of 10 from around 926 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 7.9 out of 10 from thirty reviews, placing professional and audience responses closely together.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was difficult for its creators - several intense days were followed by a complete halt to the entire process. After numerous delays and constant reshoots, the American producers (Jason Robards and Mick Jagger) refused to extend Herzog's contract, as the money had been spent and the bank accounts were frozen.
- It took four years to make the film.
- Werner Herzog's film received the Cannes Palme d'Or for directing, and in 1982 the documentary 'Burden of Dreams' about the filming of 'Fitzcarraldo' was released.
- The leader of the indigenous people employed as extras seriously offered Herzog his assistance in killing Kinski, if he so desired. The director, of course, refused. Later, Herzog jokingly said he regretted the refusal.
- According to Herzog, if Kinski hadn't appeared as an actor in time, he would have had to play the role of Fitzcarraldo himself.
- The main character was based on a historical figure – Carlos Fermín Fitzcarraldo.
- Originally, Mick Jagger was planned to play the role of Fitzcarraldo's assistant. However, his world tour prevented him from filming, and Werner Herzog then removed the role from the script.
- The stunning scene of the ship slowly being hauled over the hill separating the rivers was filmed without any special effects, using ingenious engineering devices. Werner Herzog aimed for the audience to physically feel the scale of what was happening, and he succeeded completely. Moreover: the episode with the broken rope, when the ship, having already covered part of the way, suddenly begins to slide back down, reflects a real situation that arose during filming.
- In 1981, Herzog began filming "Fitzcarraldo" after 2 years of preparation. It was assumed that the main role would be played by American Jason Robards. However, during filming, he became seriously ill. Herzog turned to Mario Adorf, but he declined the offer because he "was frightened by Herzog's obsession." In the midst of working on the film, Herzog was left without an actor. Unexpectedly, he received a telegram: "If you want, you can hire me. Klaus Kinski." As a result, the role of Fitzcarraldo went to Herzog's favorite actor, Klaus Kinski, but his capricious behavior drove not only the director, but also the chief of the local indigenous tribe, who offered Herzog to kill Kinski, to the brink.
- The actual ship belonging to the real Irishman Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald weighed 28 tons. The Duke's ship weighed 328 tons, and two completely identical vessels were used in the filming.
- When Kinski wanted to abandon everything and leave Peru, where filming was taking place, and even got into a boat, the Duke showed him a revolver, saying he would shoot all the bullets into the temperamental actor except for the last one – which he would put in his own head. After that, “working with Kinski became a pure pleasure.”
- The Duke regretted that stereo recording was not used during filming, as the sounds made by the ship being hauled over the mountain were “unlike anything at all.”
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