Werner Herzog is willing to put himself in danger for the sake of a film.

The 81-year-old director is widely considered to be a pioneer of German cinerma with his films experimenting with unorthodox dreams and concepts and admitted that on some occasions he has even tested stunts out himself before letting the actors loose on set.

Asked if he was willing to put himself in danger for his films, he told Empire magazine: "Sometimes, of course, I knew it was going to be difficult. And sometimes I knew it was going to be dangerous. But I did not allow it to be dangerous for people with me. I would test the rapids, which you see in 'Aguirre, The Wrath Of God', before I took some actors and extras and crew-members with me. And they were all safe at the end. It looks dangerous - and it was."

However, the acclaimed movie maker went on to insist that his perfection is not about "obsession", and that he is merely doing his job but he will face anything that comes his way before noting that he prefers to have a "quick, orderly" shoot for a project, although he admitted that that is very rarely the case.

He said: "For me, it's not obsession - I'm a quiet, professional man. But things come at me with great vehemence. And when something really big is coming at me, I don't duck into the

trenches. Then you can throw anything at me you want - I will face it. I like a quick orderly shoot of a film, but it doesn't happen very often because cinema itself is facing obstacles all the time.