Posted by Paul Devlin:
While I was in Antarctica shooting BLAST!, Werner Herzog was also there, shooting his movie, Encounters at the End of the World.
He came to visit the BLAST team and interviewed my brother for Encounters. When he showed up with his cameraman, Werner was surprised to discover a couple of our cameras trained on him, turning the tables. I really enjoy this piece – we often hear Werner’s voice in his movies, but this is a rare glimpse of him in action, interviewing.
The interview with my brother did not make the final cut of Encounters. Werner was definitely in search of the quirky, edgy element at McMurdo station. Mark was unfamiliar with Werner’s work and played it too straight.
Werner wanted to use some of our footage of balloon launches in his movie. We tried to work out a footage trade, but he was under contract to Discovery and had to be careful about what he released. By the time his team decided what they wanted, we were under contract to BBC and advised also not to release any footage. Looking back, I wish we had been able to accommodate him.
Werner and I were on the same flight back to New Zealand. It was delayed leaving Antarctica and we chatted on the Ross Ice Shelf – which also served as the landing area – for about 45 minutes. Priceless career advice from a Master.
BLAST! DVD: http://bit.ly/9bS6yL
BLAST! Trailer: http://bit.ly/ccGAmS
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