At this point, legendary German director Werner Herzog has become the Bill Brasky of the film world. Tales about Herzog are always tall, but never exaggerated: Werner Herzog once cooked and ate his own shoe after losing a bet. Werner Herzog once was shot during an interview, and continued on with the interview. Werner Herzog once ate a whole cake before his friends could tell him there was a stripper in it. Werner Herzog once remade Abel Ferrara's ultra-violent, cult-film Bad Lieutenant, and cast none other than Nicolas Cage as the leading role.
Wait. What was that last one?
Yes, it's true. Herzog is directing a remake of Ferrara's classic 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, which dealt with the life of a corrupt, drug addict cop in New York, famously played by Harvey Keitel. Nicolas Cage will reprise Keitel's role when production starts later this summer. The original film debuted at Cannes to rave reviews, but never became a commercial success (most likely because of NC-17 rating Ferrara earned for his frank depiction of sex, drugs, violence and more sex). For those worried about a vanilla remake of the gritty classic, it seems the filmmakers aren't going to back off from Ferrara's original film, with executive producer Avi Lerner stating that the new film will "deliver as much filth as the original." That's all we could ask for, really.
Related links:
Feature: Werner Herzog: The Tests and Trials of Men
WernerHerzog.com
YouTube: Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant Trailer
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Herzog has done some great work (much better on the docs side), and Ferrar's original is a classic. But why, exactly, is a remake needed? What will he add? Is he out of ideas?