Grizzly Man

Tonight Tiff and I were at our not-so-local mall, the Grove, and of course ventured into the Barnes and Noble there. Upstairs there was a line forming for an author’s signing. I looked to the front of the queue and at a small desk was Werner Herzog. Herzog, for the uninitiated, is the famous German film director who has spent a career exploring that fine line between sanity and chaos, and what drives men to extremes of mad obsession in such films as Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, Aguirre: the Wrath of God, and most recently Grizzly Man.

So here’s this legendary director sitting at a table signing copies of his documentary Grizzly Man, just released on DVD. He looked so mild, so gentle. The line was moving at a snail’s pace because Herzog was taking so much time with each person, really answering questions and truly interested. Tiff convinced me to go buy the disc and have him sign it.

I waited, feeling a little odd because I hadn’t even seen the film yet. I knew it was a documentary about a young man who lived among the grizzlies of the Katmai Peninsula in south west Alaska for 13 summers. In 2003 he and his girlfriend were found mauled to death by the very animals he had sworn to protect.

I got to the front of the line, held out my just unwrapped copy, and of course, the first thing Werner asks me is, “Did you see it on the screen?” (meaning, in the theater). I fumbled through an apology, and said I loved Fitscaraldo and Wrath of God, and thank you for doing what you do. In his gentle accent he said, “No, zat is better. You will have no expectations. Remember, zis is not a film about nature. Zis is a film about human nature.”

I met Tiff upstairs in the café with the ink form Herzog’s signature still wet. She had a Sunset magazine opened to an article about the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska. Little did I know but the Call was kicking into high gear. First, a chance meeting with a legendary director signing copies of his film set in Alaska, and now this Iditarod article. Hmmm. Adventure was tugging at my soul. The Sunset article mentioned that more people have made it to the top of Everest than have completed the 1049 mile Iditarod race that makes its way from Anchorage to Nome in sub-zero temperatures in the darkness of winter. Tiff said I should make a documentary about this race.

I was no longer in charge of where this train was going.