Barbie didn’t just dance its way to over a billion dollars at the global box office. Admirers and commentators also praise its examination of the female experience, patriarchy, capitalism and existentialism.
Piers Morgan and a major Hollywood film director simply think it is “hell” on screen. Werner Herzog has directed over 20 films and numerous operas and is revered on both sides of the Atlantic.
Iconic French filmmaker François Truffaut once called him “the most important film director alive” and the German auteur’s career has spanned European and Hollywood movies, art house and mainstream.
The 81-year-old legend gave a frank, no holds barred interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored about Greta Gerwig’s recent Barbie film with Margot Robbie, ‘woke’ Hollywood, comic book movies and, no lie, hypnotising chickens.
Morgan asked his guest where he stood on the Barbenheimer battle and he said: ‘Barbie, I managed to see the first half hour. I was curious… And I still don’t have an answer, but I have a suspicion – could it be that the world of Barbie is sheer hell?
“For a movie ticket, as an audience, you can witness sheer hell, as close as it gets. I don’t know yet, Piers Morgan, give me a moment to watch the whole thing. I have to watch the whole thing first.”
Morgan replied: “”Trust me, let me spare you the horror. I watched the whole thing and it is hell. I completely concur with your initial assessment after half an hour. And I would definitely recommend you don’t put yourself through the rest of it.”
Asked about cancel culture, the removal or banning of works by artists whose views or actions are condemned, Herzog said: “It’s a very serious question and I have struggled with it…
“I try to separate the person, the monstrous person, [from the person]who did extraordinary things… Would you remove every single painting of the painter Caravaggio from museums and churches because Caravaggio was a murderer? Do we have to remove all his work from everywhere?
“However, cancel culture, as much as I dislike elements of it, it has changed the climate on movie sets, in a good way, yes. Women are much more respected. The tone has changed.”
Herzog also agreed that some aspects of “woke Hollywood” had gone too far, citing when intimacy consultants are now required for kissing scenes.
He said: “Those are the excesses and the stupidities. Much of it comes basically down to earth, what is decent human behaviour?”
However, he also thinks that the reaction to such changes has also been excessive: “The pendulum will swing back and it will settle in a much more healthy way than we see it right now. Don’t worry too much about it. It’s very ephemeral. The general tendency is right but the excesses forget about them – they will be the laughing stock of tomorrow.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Herzog also declares he wholly agrees with Martin Scorsese’s dismay over the predominance of superhero films: “It’s easy to nag and say the film industry has become somehow narrowed down to comics but he has the authority to say that, and I see it in a similar way. However, we should not underestimate the power of fantasies and comic books… so don’t dismiss it completely.”
And yes, he also doubles down on his claims of poultry control: “I think anyone can hypnotise a chicken. I have hypnotised actors for one film… I could actually hypnotise an audience via a screen… But hypnotising a chicken, you take the chicken’s beak, and then on the ground, you draw, with a piece of chalk, a quick line away from its beak and it will stay hypnotised.”
So now you know…