Werner Herzog talks Pokemon Go and it’s just as great as you’d imagine

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Pokemon Go has become a cultural phenomenon. As strange as that may have sounded a few months ago, these days it seems as if everyone and their parents have taken to the game that ingeniously uses GPS in order to have folks walk around and capture Pokemon, stock up on items and maybe even be social! Imagine that! Of course, not everyone is hip to catch ’em all, and that includes prolific director/actor Werner Herzog. The Verge recently spoke with the man regarding all things film and otherwise, and the topic came around to Pokemon Go. If you’re familiar with the director’s accent, attitude and and general cadence, the following exchange should make your Friday!

Do you know about Pokémon Go?

No.

It’s this…

I don’t know what Pokémon Go is and what all these things are…

It’s a…

You’re talking to somebody who made his first phone call at age 17. You’re talking to someone who doesn’t have a cell phone, for example, for cultural reasons.

Right.

Tell me about Pokémon Go. What is happening on Pokémon Go?

It’s basically the first mainstream augmented reality program. It’s a game where the entire world is mapped and you walk around with the GPS on your phone. You walk around in the real world and can catch these little monsters and collect them. And everybody is playing it.

Does it tell you you’re here at San Vicente, close to Sunset Boulevard?

Yeah, it’s basically like a Google map.

But what does pokémon do at this corner here?

You might be able to catch some. It’s all completely virtual. It’s very simple, but it’s also an overlay of physically based information that now exists on top of the real world.

When two persons in search of a pokémon clash at the corner of Sunset and San Vicente is there violence? Is there murder?

They do fight, virtually.

Physically, do they fight?

No—

Do they bite each other’s hands? Do they punch each other?

The people or the…

Yes, there must be real people if it’s a real encounter with someone else.

Well, it’s been interesting because there are all these anecdotes of people who are playing the game, and they’ve never met their neighbors, for instance. And when they go outside to look for pokémon they realize they’re playing the same game, and start talking to each other.

You’d have to give me a cell phone, which I’m not going to use anyway, and I have no clue what’s going on there, but I don’t need to play the game.

No, I think it’s plenty to read about it… in the end, it does seem to be evidence of how easy it is for people to accept AR into their lives, as opposed to VR.

Yeah, but these things are very ephemeral, they come and go.