Coppola Presents Venice 2025 Honorary Golden Lion to Werner Herzog: “Praising Him Is Not Enough”
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Francis Ford Coppola, just days after undergoing heart surgery, was greeted with a standing ovation on the red carpet of the 82nd Venice Film Festival before presenting the Honorary Golden Lion to Werner Herzog. On stage Wednesday night, Coppola emphasized that Herzog is “one of a kind.”
In his speech, Coppola said Herzog has made films “in every corner of cinema”: “I came here to praise Werner Herzog, but praising Werner Herzog is not enough. We should be grateful that someone like him is truly alive.”
Coppola referenced Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God, calling Herzog’s works “all unique, unlike each other, and magnificent. He not only could fill every page of an encyclopedia, he himself is an encyclopedia. If Werner has a limitation, I do not know what it is.”
The Godfather director concluded: “Werner’s life and his existence challenge others: Be better than me, if you can. And none of us truly knows if anyone can. Werner, if someone comes along who can, I’ll change my name.”
Herzog, in turn, thanked Coppola, saying: “We have known each other for half a century. He was generous—when I couldn’t afford a hotel room, he invited me. I stayed at his house in San Francisco and wrote the screenplay for Fitzcarraldo.”
He revealed that he and Coppola nearly collaborated on a film about Mexico “from the Aztec point of view,” though the project was never realized.
This year, Coppola presents Mike Figgis’s documentary Megadoc in Venice Classics, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his epic Megalopolis, which premiered at Cannes last year. Coppola himself received Venice’s Honorary Golden Lion in 1992.
Herzog, meanwhile, will screen his latest documentary Ghost Elephants out of competition in Venice and will also appear for a masterclass.
The Venice Film Festival runs through September 6.
