A Steady Diet of Film

a kind of gay Crash moment

The LA Times report that when Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, Ladder 49, your mom) flipped his SUV on a windy road last week he was rescued by none other than German film-maker Werner Herzog.

According to police, the accident occurred about 3 p.m. when Phoenix's brakes gave out. The actor said he was forced to swerve into the mountainside to avoid hitting another car, and the driver's side air bag deployed.

Phoenix said he was thrown into the passenger seat when his vehicle rolled onto its roof. In the aftermath, the actor said he felt "a bit confused."

"I remember this knocking on the passenger window," said Phoenix. "There was this German voice saying, 'Just relax.' There's the air bag, I can't see and I'm saying, 'I'm fine. I am relaxed.'

"Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, 'No, you're not.' And suddenly I said to myself, 'That's Werner Herzog!' There's something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog's voice. I felt completely fine and safe. I climbed out."

Herzog, 63, the temperamental auteur responsible for such strange but fascinating films as Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God — who won best documentary for 2005's Grizzly Man at the Directors Guild Awards on Jan. 28 — has a home near the accident scene.

posted by Erin @ Thursday, February 02, 2006