News > Werner Herzog is Going to Burma

Eccentric (to say the least) German director Werner Herzog has signed on to write and direct "The Piano Tuner," described by The Hollywood Reporter as "a lush Victorian-era drama about a Brit's journey to war-torn Burma." I never thought the word "lush" would appear in the same sentence with the name Werner Herzog, but the bit about going to a hot, war-torn foreign country sounds about right.

Based on Daniel Mason's 2002 debut novel, the story centers on Edgar Drake, a man sent to a remote village in the late 1800s to repair an eccentric military man's piano. Drake falls in love with a Burmese woman and her country, but as the officer wins over locals through music and medicine, things grow treacherous when his troops begin to suspect him of treason.

Peter Buchman wrote a draft of the script, but it is currently undergoing a rewrite by Herzog. Knowing him, Herzog is probably busy finding excuses to film in leech-infested waters that are patrolled by spear-toting native people. Even so, in over fifty films, he's never made such an elaborate English-language costume drama. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the old master branches out.

-David Morgan