NPR interview of Werner Herzog on Grizzly Man

Here is the link to an NPR interview of Werner Herzog on the making of Grizzly Man. He provides explanations of his filming choices and additional insights that are not included in his documentary.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4778191

Herzog makes it very clear that he now believes Timothey Treadwell was inexorably drifting towards his death as he ventured to film grizzlies in Alaska. The director goes as far as asserting that the “grizzly man” had a suicidal penchant. Werner Herzog most likely could not have afforded to say this in his film, fearing his opinions could prove too controversial.

W. Herzog also stresses how he believes nature should be respected, not sentimentalized. He condemns a modern “Disneyization” of wilderness. To him, the dramatic outcome of Treadwell’s adventure illustrates a chronic misunderstanding of wild animals.

The filmmaker also explains he could not make a work of fiction out of Treadwell’s life story since he was dead and respect was owed to him. Herzog says he often likes to go deeper into stories than “cinéma vérité” allows it. Without unreasonably distorting the truth, he often tries to give an esthetic form to his works in order to further captivate his audience.