I was given this story across my desk today about the making of Rescue Dawn, the upcoming Werner Herzog film. In the following news story we gleen some insight into what it was like to work in the jungle. We get the story from the mouth of Christian Bale via the caves of Yahoo!
The man who steered a steamboat across the Peruvian Andes for “Fitzcarraldo” and braved the raging oil fires of Kuwait for “Lessons of Darkness” recently tackled the jungles of Thailand to bring his Vietnam War drama “Rescue Dawn” to the big screen.
Herzog chose the merciless topography of northern Thailand to fill in for Laos, where the true story of Dieter Dengler’s torture, imprisonment and escape from a POW camp unfolded. Like his character Dieter, Bale ate maggots, swam in snake-infested waters and dodged deadly creatures during the three-month shoot.
“I was like: ‘Look at that spider. It could kill you with one bite,”‘ said Bale, who also spotted random elephants traipsing through Herzog’s shoot in the remote northwestern hill country of Thailand, near the Burmese border. “It’s an adventure to make a movie with him, and I think that’s his point. . . . It’s about blood, sweat and tears. It’s about jumping in and getting your hands dirty and just collapsing at the end of the day.”
Herzog is a man that likes to direct landscapes. Some of the best special effects you could ever ask for, are locations within the real world. In the Jungle the cast and crew weathered with the elements to bring the story to life. Working beside the disgusting filth of the jungle the story becomes much more powerful visually, I would hazard a guess that if you watched this film without volume you would still understand the message of the movie from how the landscapes themselves are presented.
Christian Bale is my favorite actor, this guy is not only a mastersmith of his craft, he is willing to stretch and pull himself apart to fit a role, to tell a story. He is a man that wrestles himself to fit into character. I am very much looking forward to the 4th of July release date for this film. Herzog and Bale are a legendary tag-team.
I have attached to this post a video below where Herzog discusses his feelings about the jungle!
