The Making of Fitzcarraldo

Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, the film of the week, has an interesting production background. The inspiration for the film was a real-life Peruvian rubber baron from the 1890s, Carlos Fermin Fizcarrald. Fizcarrald also managed to drag a tanker over a hill between two rivers (like what happens in the film), but unlike in the film, Fizcarrald disassembled his ship and dragged it across in smaller pieces, then reassembled it when every piece had crossed.


The most famous scene from this film is undoubtedly the part where a 320-ton steamship over a hill without using any special effects. Herzog has stated that the film's spectacular production was partly inspired by the engineering feats of ancient standing stones. Herzog believed that no one had ever performed a similar feat in history, and likely never will again, calling himself "Conquistador of the Useless".


Three similar-looking ships were bought for the production and used in different scenes and locations, including scenes that were shot aboard the ship while it crashed through rapids, injuring three of the six people involved in the filming.

The part of Fitzcarraldo himself was particularly difficult to cast due to issues with the various actors that were involved. Originally the part was played by Jason Robards, but after 40 percent of the filming was finished, Robards came down with dysentery and was forbidden by doctors to return to set. Herzog attempted to get Jack Nicholson and even considered playing the role himself before it was accepted by the German actor Klaus Kinski.


Kinski was born in 1926 in Zoppot in the Free City of Danzig (now Poland). He is half Polish and half German. In 1943, he was conscripted into the German army. He actually deserted and was captured by the British army and sent to a POW camp in England. In the camp, he got his first taste of acting in camp theatrical productions. He returned to Germany in 1946, and acted with a small theatrical troupe, but was fired for unpredictable behavior. He was jobless in Vienna until the early 1950s, when he began playing small parts in both German and American films. His big break came when he partnered with Werner Herzog for five films: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Woyzeck (1978), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and finally Cobra Verde (1987). Ironically, Kinski was a huge source of tension on the set of Fitzcarraldo, arguing constantly with Herzog and various crew members and angering local people who were living in the areas of Peru where filming took place. Herzog was obviously not deterred by this behavior, however, because he continued to work with Kinski for another film (Cobra Verde, 1987).