To the untrained eye these new on-set stills from **Cave Of Forgotten Dreams **may look like a bunch of men in overalls standing about in caves, but that'd be missing the bigger picture. One of these men is Werner Herzog, a director with an understanding of the natural world so great he can turn an iguana into Nicolas Cage's spirit guide and engage in a Mexican stand-off with a penguin.
Is there a better man to lead us into the prehistoric caves of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in southern France, then? We're saying probably not. His new documentary captures cave art that's more than 30,000 years old, a sight seen by fewer than a handful of people since the drawings were discovered in 1994.
If that quest to lug a steamboat up over a South American hilltop was impressive in Fitzcarraldo, getting permission to film in the caves isn't far behind in the German's list of achievements. Fiercely protected by the French government, no-one has been allowed to film in them before. To avoid damaging the charcoal drawings Herzog even had to shoot with a specially modified camera that emitted light but no heat.
It promises to be a spiritual journey with the great man, although even if the idea of anthropological manoeuvres in the dark leaves you cold, it'll fascinating to see how Herzog, a self-professed 3D sceptic, has embraced the medium.
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams is out in stalagmighty 3D on March 25.