Werner Herzog

And it was a wonderful, wonderful task for me.

And very strange because I immediately refused the offer to do an installation for the Whitney Biennale.

They said to me on the phone, ''Ah, yeah, but you're an artist.

Aren't you an artist yourself?''

And I said, ''No, I'm not an artist.

I'm a soldier.''

And hung up.

Sorry, it's much, much more embarrassing.

It's so embarrassing that I have difficulties to even speak about it.

I staged the world premiere of an opera of a contemporary Japanese composer who wanted me desperately to stage it for the first time in the world.

And it was somehow known in the media that I was working in the city and not the emperor himself.

It was from his office, cautiously, an official stretched out the feelers where I could meet the emperor in a private audience.

It was shortly before the premiere ceremony.

And of course, there was a lot of turmoil and work and things didn't function yet.

But I immediately said to the people of the opera who were on a long table for dinner together, I said, no, I cannot do that.

And I made a remark, I wouldn't even know what to say to the emperor because I should say something of importance, something of gravitas, something formalized.

I wouldn't know how to handle it.

And there was complete silence.

There are silences that are friendly, but it was a frozen silence.

And then into the silence, all of a sudden, there's a voice asking, whom else then would you like to meet?