Herzog reinvents himself with 'Port'

Director joined by Cage, Mendes in Venice

By NICK VIVARELLI

Werner Herzog, Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes made "reinvention" the Lido buzzword on Friday, as they tubthumped Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans," also prompting a paparazzi feeding frenzy.

Herzog also became the first director in the history of Venice to have two films in competition in the same year when his "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" was announced as the fest's surprise film.

Willem Dafoe, Michael Shannon and Chloe Sevigny star in the pic about a man who kills his mother. David Lynch's shingle Absurda is handling international sales.

Asked about the relation between "Port of Call" and  Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant," Herzog cheekily denied ever having even seen the original. 

That was probably due to the fact that in Cannes, Ferrara had blasted Herzog and producer Ed Pressman -- who also produced the first "Lieutenant" -- saying, "I wish these people die in hell."

Herzog on Friday actually appeared to offer Ferrara, who is expected on the Lido with his docu "Napoli, Napoli, Napoli," an olive branch.

"I know that he will be here," Herzog said. "I hope he will see the film. We should really meet over a bottle of whisky very soon."

But aside from reinventing Ferrara's work, Herzog also made it clear that he is reinventing himself, with "Port of Call," the first foray into genre moviemaking for the auteur known for arthouse hits such as "Aguirre: The Wrath of God," "Fitzcarraldo," and, more recently, "Rescue Dawn."

"It was the right time to do a film noir," said Herzog, noting that noirs "are always the consequence of a deep depression, a deep insecurity" brought about by the financial crisis.

Herzog also underlined that he was "very, very proud that I worked with a very competent producers."

In particular, he praised Avi Lerner, "who worked so tirelessly in a very, very professional, straightforward way" on the pic's distribution in a way that "will open up new horizons for me." 

Lerner is re-uniting with Cage for the $50 million 3-D project "Drive Angry," about a father seeking revenge against his daughter's killers. Patrick Lussier ("My Bloody Valentine") is attached to direct.

Cage said that his over-the-top perf as a drugged-out cop was a result of Herzog telling him to him to "push the limits.

"I like a certain sound as an actor, that sometimes goes into static electricity like the music of  (Karlheinz) Stockhausen: very wild. Werner could handle that," he said.

Also perhaps doing a bit of reinventing, Mendes, who plays a prostitute who is also the cop's girlfriend, described the dark noir as "an innocent love story."