May 30, 2026
A bullet, a bold LA rant
Werner Herzog in conversation with Paul Cronin (2014)
Herzog shrugs off getting shot as fans swoon over his wild Los Angeles love letter
TLDR: Herzog’s old interview is back in the spotlight because he coolly dismissed being shot during filming and then delivered a passionate defense of Los Angeles. In the comments, people were split between marveling at his fearless legend status, praising his interview style, and joking that they misread his name as baseball icon Whitey Herzog.
Werner Herzog casually describing a shooting as “not a significant bullet” would be enough to hijack most conversations, but the real comment-section obsession took a surprise turn: Los Angeles. In this 2014 chat with Paul Cronin, the famously intense filmmaker brushes off being hit during an outdoor interview, roasts a panicked TV crew, and then launches into an almost romantic speech about LA as America’s most alive, most chaotic, most creative city. Naturally, readers ate it up.
The strongest reaction was pure fascination. One commenter called the whole interview “utterly fascinating” and zeroed in on Herzog’s love for Los Angeles, while another basically stood up and applauded his vision of a city where a Moorish castle can sit next to a Swiss chalet and a UFO house. That weird, dreamy picture of LA became the thread’s main character. Meanwhile, Herzog fans rushed in to praise his interview style, saying he has a rare gift for simply listening while still never letting people wriggle away from hard truths.
And then came the comic relief: one baseball-loving reader admitted his brain kept reading Werner Herzog as Whitey Herzog, which is the kind of internet side quest that instantly gives a thread a pulse. Another commenter brought up Herzog’s autobiography and his chaotic struggle to finish Fitzcarraldo, reigniting the old myth-vs-genius debate around how far artistic obsession should go. In other words: one tiny bullet, one giant LA hot take, and a comment section fully ready to make Herzog sound even more like a legend.
Key Points
- •The article is an excerpt from Paul Cronin’s dialogue collection *Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed*, tied to a revised edition of *Herzog on Herzog*.
- •Werner Herzog recounts being shot during an interview near his home in the Hollywood Hills, saying the bullet passed through his jacket and a folded catalogue but did not injure his abdomen.
- •Herzog says he considered the shooting incident minor and did not want to involve police despite the BBC crew’s alarm.
- •The excerpt includes Herzog’s description of Los Angeles as a city with creative energy, industrial depth, and social variety beyond Hollywood.
- •Herzog contrasts Los Angeles with Florence, Venice, and New York, and says California produced major cultural and technical trends including computers and the Internet.