Werner Herzog Talking About Baby Yoda is Pure Poetry
Legendary director Werner Herzog has had a long and storied career. He hauled a boat over a mountain for Fitzcarraldo, risked his life filming active volcanoes in his 70s, and then there was that one time when he tried to burn frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski to death. Though, to be fair, he later saved Joaquin Phoenix from self-immolating, so let's call that last one even. Most recently, Herzog appeared as an ex-Imperial officer on Disney's The Mandalorian, despite the fact that he's never seen a single Star Wars movie and presumably had no idea what the hell was going on.
Herzog is also partly responsible for ensuring that "The Child" (AKA Baby Yoda) remained a practical effect and not a CGI creation. Herzog previously admitted that he cried at the sight of Baby Yoda, and now in an interview with Total Film, Herzog further describes the story of how he defended the puppet-ness of everyone's new favorite Star Wars alien. And it's truly the stuff of poetry.
Herzog called the puppet "a mechanical device of incredible intensity and caliber," a sentence that is impossible to read without hearing in his dulcet German voice. He claims that the filmmakers considered switching the puppet out for a digital version in order to prevent leaks, at which point Herzog responded in the Herzog-iest way possible: "I said, 'No, you shouldn't do it! You are the trailblazers. You are showing us a new technology. Show it to the world that you are confident. Don't be cowards!'"
Yes, it seemingly took Herzog challenging Jon Favreau's manhood to preserve the integrity of Baby Yoda. In the same interview, Herzog also reveals that he isn't sure if the creature is called "Yodi or Yedi" -- because, again, Werner Herzog simply doesn't give a shit about Star Wars.
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Top Image: Lucasfilm
