Fitzcarraldo: 10 Crazy Behind The Scenes Facts About The Movie

Before he shifted over to documentaries, Werner Herzog was one of the most famous directors in the industry, and that was all predicated on just one movie; Fitzcarraldo. The movie is about the titular character trying to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle, and it has been named a masterpiece by many esteemed film critics, and Herzog has been called “brave” for his decisions while filming on location in Peru.

However, the movie is now better known for its disastrous production given that the filmmaker watched members of the cast and crew suffer fatalities and even cut off their own limbs, and caused the production to be literally attacked. Herzog has since been called in to question about his filmmaking methods and whether or not he should be regarded as a genius, but the stories that have come of it are truly unbelievable.

10 Mick Jagger Was Completely Edited Out

At one point in time, in the very early stages of production, Mick Jagger of all people was actually cast as Fitzcarraldo’s assistant, Wilbur. However, production went on far longer than expected and Jagger had to quit the project to tour with The Rolling Stones.

They had reportedly filmed several months of footage, and some of it is available to view on YouTube. Though the performance that he gave in the few available clips have received negative comments, Herzog stands by his decision to cast him and has even said that losing Mick was the biggest loss in his career.

9 Herzog and Klaus Kinski Locked Horns… A Lot

Herzog and Klaus Kinski have a sordid history. They publicly hate each other, but they’ve also worked together several times, as they know that their work together is golden and neither of them would be as good without the other.

Tensions were raised with each consecutive movie that they worked on, and during production of Aguirre: The Wrath of Good, when Kinski had a tantrum and refused to act anymore, Herzog held the actor at gun point and had him act with a gun to his head. Well, that tension continued during filming Fitzcarraldo, as they fought to no end, which can be seen in Herzog’s documentary about the actor, My Best Friend.

8 An Indigenous Chief Offered To Murder Kinski

Not only did Klaus Kinski relentlessly anger Herzog, but he also got on the nerves of practically the whole crew, including the cast of the indigenous people. His erratic behavior and non-stop screaming was too much for the production after already suffering so much.

At one point, a chief literally offered to murder the dramatic actor on behalf of Herzog. It’s highly likely that Herzog even considered it for a few minutes before politely declining, which is why it’s one of the behind the scenes stories that deserve its own movie.

7 A Crew Member Chainsawed His Own Foot Off After A Snake Bite

In Burden of Dreams, the incredibly hard to find making-of documentary about the doomed movie, there are shots of poisonous snakes hiding in tall grass and even falling from trees. So it only a matter of time until one of the members of the camera crew was bitten on their foot by one of the deadly snakes. It was literally a matter of life or death, as the venom was quickly spreading to his whole body, which led to him apparently cut off his foot before that could happen. And as if it couldn’t have been worse, he cut off his foot with a chainsaw.

6 Jason Robards Contracted Amoebic Dysentery

Also explained on Roger Ebert’s website is Jason Robard’s involvement. The actor was originally cast in the titular role and he spent months filming in Peru in 1979 too. Unfortunately, Robards contracted amoebic dysentery four months into filming, and while filming, he lost 40 pounds of weight, which just goes to show how physically demanding the shoot must have been. But Herzog has said that Kinski is much better in the role than Robard could have ever been, even if they did butt heads a lot.

5 The Amahuaca Tribe Attacked

Herzog is to blame for sparking an all-out war, as the director had hired close to 1000 Indigenous extras and treated them terribly. The thousand extras were housed in what could only be described as barracks, there wasn’t enough food to go around, and one even died from malaria, which is one of the times members of the crew died on set. And this lasted for six months, causing a ton of friction. This led to the camp being attacked by the Amahuaca tribe.

4 A Crew Member’s Throat Was Pierced With An Arrow

Described in the same magazine article is the horrible aftermath of the Amahuaca tribe attack, which goes into great detail about the casualties of the crew. A man was shot at with a five foot arrow that went straight through his throat, but amazingly, the man somehow survived.

His wife was also attacked and she suffered several hip injuries, but nothing fatal. If it wasn’t for Herzog exploiting the indigenous people of Peru for his personal gain, he wouldn’t have endangered hundreds of people’s lives.

3 Filming Was Halted By A Plane Crash

During an already unfathomably scary production that kept getting postponed due to Kinski’s tantrums and indigenous extras rightfully striking, it was about to get even worse, and the one on-set doctor was about to have his work cut out for him. There was reportedly not one, but two plane crashes on set. The plane crash caused several casualties, where limbs were literally split open, and there was even one case of paralysis too.

2 The Cinematographer Split His Hand In Two

Fitzcarraldo is arguably the best movie directed by Werner Herzog, and part of the reason why is because of the way the movie looks. It’s full of panoramic vistas of Peru and the jungle, and it wouldn’t look that good if it wasn’t for the work of cinematographer Thomas Mauch. However, according to the LA Times, Mauch split his hand in two and he had to undergo surgery on a kitchen table. The surgery apparently lasted for hours and without any anesthetic. Whether or not Mauch thinks it was worth it, Fitzcarraldo is certainly a movie with dazzling cinematography.

1 Is the subject of the documentary Burden of Dreams

There are loads of great documentaries about movies, and though it might be hard to find, Fitzcarraldo is also a subject of a documentary. The documentary is named Burden of Dreams, and it covers everything mentioned and more, such as a woman who died after stealing a canoe from the set, and a priest who wanted half of the crew to be prostitutes. As the film is one of the best German movies of the 20th century, it amazing to find out how the epic was made, tragedies and all.