Piotr Bukartyk
(adopted from Film 11/2008)
„Frankenstein” from 1931 was a memorable horror movie for me. I saw it at my grandmother’s place when I was 7. It was 37 years ago. The film was black-and-white as well as the television set. What’s more, Boris Karloff played the main character. My grandmother told me to cover my eyes from time to time, but I was peeping through the gap of my fingers and later on had problems falling asleep. I remember two scenes from this movie: the burning mill in which the monster was killed and a girl picking flowers when suddenly she stands face to face with the monster. I really liked watching those horror movies with Karloff and Bela Lugosi but unfortunately later on I lost the sentiment to horror movies. I got bored with this American cliché: someone is being chased and his feet gets stuck in something… Of course, when I was a student I didn’t avoid a traveling home video. If someone owned a video recorder he or she could earn money from it – we watched terrible copies on cassettes on tiny television sets then. But I won’t say that I didn’t get fascinated in horror films again. I used to like more realistic horror movies like “ The silence of the lambs”. Ghosts are not necessary there, because to tell the truth people are always the worst.
Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski (adapted from Film 11/2008)
Kinski called Herzog a pitiful, cowardly, sadistic, greedy monster. (…) He argued with him, insulted him, tried to provoke a fight or he didn’t say a word for years. But each time when Herzog was offering him a part, Kinski took it without hesitation. “I know that I owe him a lot, he owed me a lot as well, but he never wanted to admit”, wrote Herzog after many years.
“ Aquirre: The Wrath of God” ( 1972) was their first joint venture. They were taking the shots a few months in jungle in Peru. The team was living in terrible conditions. Kinski and Herzog were arguing constantly. Many years after, the director declared that he was the one who used to provoke those argues. “ I wanted to make him tired after a few hours of yelling. I wanted him to be in a proper mood - silent, calm and dangerous.”
After “Aquirre…” Kinski and Herzog didn’t stay in contact for several years until 1978 when Kinski agreed to make two films with Herzog “ Nosferatu” and “Woyzeck”.(…)
The five films they made together are a shocking portrayal of madness and a study of loneliness, one of the best in the history of cinema. Also, the most important films that can be found in Kinski's filmography, which includes a few dozen titles (…) "Kinski was born to act in my cinema." – Herzog would say after death of his actor.