In an interview with Variety about his plans for a Film Accelerator program in Spain for live-action directors and cinematographers, documentarian and pop culture icon Werner Herzog revealed that he will be voicing a role for Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming animated feature. The film’s plot is under wraps, so Herzog did not reveal any more about the project or his character, but Bong has stated that the CG project will revolve around the relationships between humans and marine life, including deep-sea creatures.
Born in Munich, Germany, 81-year-old Herzog is a writer, director, producer, actor and poet whose unique approach to filmmaking, combined with his distinctive voice and flair for language, have elevated him from a film festival favorite to a household name. Herzog has created more than 60 narrative and documentary films, including Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Grizzly Man, The Wild Blue Yonder, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and the Oscar-nominated Encounters at the End of the World.
Herzog is also no stranger to animation voiceover, most recently narrating the DreamWorks Animation/Netflix feature Orion and the Dark. He has guest starred as both himself and original characters on multiple episodes of The Simpsons as well as Rick and Morty, Metalocalypse, American Dad!, The Boondocks. He also voiced a documentarian in the Penguins of Madagascar movie and provided the English-language dub voice of Castrop in Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises.
As previously announced, triple-Oscar-winning writer/director Bong (Parasite, Okja, Snowpiercer) is gearing up to produce an original animated feature, which he completed the screenplay for in 2021. The untitled project is expected to be the most expensive film production in Korean history (approx. $52 million USD). Bong has enlisted cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (Parasite, Burning), and has tapped Korean visual effects company 4th Creative Party for the CG animation. Sony is said to be on board for global distribution.
