Here’s a weird story that’s been filtering down through various sources this week. You may remember last weekend that Joaquin Phoenix flipped his car and collided with another driver after his brakes malfunctioned. At the time it was reported that Phoenix was helped out of the car by a passerby and was able to walk away from the accident without any serious injury. Well now it’s come out that apparently the good samaritan who helped him out of his car was none other than German filmmaker Werner Herzog. What are the odds? Of course, we all know that Herzog looks for dangerous situations to put himself into… in fact, I’m surprised he didn’t have a camera crew with him at the time. Phoenix had this to say about his rescuer:

“There was this German voice saying, ‘Just relax.’ There’s the air bag, I can’t see and I’m saying, ‘I’m fine. I am relaxed.’ Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, ‘No, you’re not.’ And suddenly I said to myself, ‘That’s Werner Herzog!’ There’s something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog’s voice. I felt completely fine and safe.”