I suppose hearing "I'm a Nazi who is sympathetic to Hitler" does provoke a kneejerk response of "Boy, that was a fucking stupid thing to say". You might have noticed how everyone else there who heard the question, including his coworkers, all had the same response.


The question incidentally was whether his German heritage informed his filmmaking. A dumb question certainly, but not one to reasonably provoke that response.

You do realize he is technically Jewish, yes?

I was aware he is actually Jewish. I'm not upset he wants to act out the Final Solution (his words), I'm mocking his ill-advised Mel Gibson impersonation.

I say technically because, although he grew up with Jewish parents, his mother admitted to him on her deathbed that his real father was a german businessman she had an affair with. I think the wording of the question is important, but even your capsule summary makes it clear that the seemingly innocuous "how does your german heritage affect your film making" is really "how does having a slut for a mother and being a bastard affect your film making", at least from his point of view. I'm sure the questioner knew this bit of personal history, although it's possible he just hit that sore point by accident.

His answer, although badly fumbled, was quite interesting. Search on his name and Iran for a clarifying statement from him.

Funny story about how Jewish heritage is transferred. He is full on Jewish.

He's being judged for making a horribly tasteless and stupid joke, after he made a horribly tasteless and stupid joke. I'm not convinced that's unfair.

I don't think that's unfair I just like to shit on his movies.

Hear Hear!

I've never seen his movies, and like everyone else, barely noticed this story on Variety and Gawker. But damned if those reactions from Kirsten Dunst aren't uncomfortably humorous.

Incidentally, was it ever confirmed if that classic linked "Why Kirsten Dunst drinks" video was fake? Because between these clips and her career, someone need to make a tragicomic movie of her life.

Get Werner Herzog to follow her around and I think you've got a great idea.

He's not a great film maker, he's a great troll, all of his movies were trolls.

I don't think Riget was all that trollish. Then again I guess it wasn't actually a proper movie.