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FILM 1251: FITZCARRALDO

TRIVIA: A real 340-ton steamship was moved over the mountain with a bulldozer, without the use of special effects.

Klaus Kinski was a major source of tension on set, as he fought virulently with the crew and raged over trivial matters. The natives where very upset about his behavior. Herzog has claimed that it went so far that one of the chieftains offered, in all seriousness, to murder Kinski for Herzog.

Based on a true story. Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald was a Peruvian rubber baron, the son of an Irish-American father and a Peruvian mother, who developed the Madre de Dios basin by portaging a ship overland. It was disassembled, however, not moved intact. The rivers connected by the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald are the Rio Mishagua and Rio Manu; the Ucayali was part of the downstream shipping route. Fitzcarrald died at age 35 when his ship sank.

Was shot in English, since many of the actors on the set couldn't speak German.

Jack Nicholson was originally set to star, but left the production.