“The Tampa Theatre is absolutely stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Werner Herzog during remarks at a reception held in his honor by the German Embassy this past Saturday evening in Tampa.
He came to Tampa for a talk on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at USF at the invitation of Dr. Margit Grieb (who we adore). She teaches courses on German film, literature, language, and culture and introduced our sold-out screening of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis last summer.
Mr. Herzog started his day with a tour of Tampa Theatre and lunch. I’m a big fan and was nervous, but he completely put me at ease with his calm and friendly voice and demeanor. He is one of the most down to earth, gracious, brilliant, insightful, funny and fascinating people I’ve ever met – and one of the most prolific creative forces of our time as you can see here.
At USF, he screened one of his latest documentaries, Into the Abyss (amazing as usual), to a standing room only lecture hall (of course, it’s Werner Herzog) followed by an entertaining and compelling Q&A (which you can read about in this Creative Loafing article).
Thank you Dr. Grieb, USF and the German Embassy for bringing our hero Werner Herzog to Tampa!
Oh, one more thing… During lunch he mentioned being asked by an interviewer about his social media presence. He’s not on facebook and limits phone conversations. He said he loves to cook and his social media of choice is dinner and conversation around a table. How refreshing! Makes me want to host more dinner parties.
Thank you, Tara, for doing such a splendid tour for us. Herzog was also commenting on the way to USF how lucky we are to have such a fabulous movie palace in Tampa. I couldn’t agree more and want to add that a movie theater is only as good as its program director. We are lucky to have you at the programming helm at Tampa Theatre!
He sounds like an amazing man with his priorities in the right place.
High praise from someone who really knows a thing or two about film and theatre!