Werner Herzog’s wife, Lena, told Anderson Cooper that her husband’s villainous characters in « The Mandalorian » and « Jack Reacher » are almost a « caricature » of the filmmaker.
In the mid-1990s, Lena Herzog was a student in California, studying philosophy at Mills College and taking classes at Berkeley.
When she first met Werner Herzog, a renowned filmmaker by then, she didn’t know who he was and hadn’t seen any of his films.
Rather than out himself as a famous movie director, Werner Herzog made up a backstory.
« He told me he was a stuntman », Lena told Anderson Cooper.
He kept up the ruse for months. The couple even moved in together before Werner revealed who he really was.
« And I thought, ‘My God, I’m falling in love… It’s too bad he’s a stunt man. What am I gonna say to my mother?' » Lena told Cooper.
Today, the couple lives in California, a paradoxical stomping ground for an eccentric auteur who has defied Hollywood conventions throughout his career.
