The man at the center of Werner Herzog’s new movie has eight days to live: Michael Perry, a 28-year-old death row inmate facing execution in Texas more than ten years after he was convicted of a triple homicide. In Into the Abyss, Herzog interviews Perry, his accomplice Jason Burkett, and the families of their victims in an attempt to figure out the psychology of killing, whether it’s the sort of murder committed by Perry and Burkett or the legalized executions carried out by the state of Texas (a topic that’s in the headlines once more, thanks to the Troy Davis case and Rick Perry’s cheering supporters at the Republican debate). In this exclusive clip from Into the Abyss (which opens this Friday, November 11), Herzog asks Perry to discuss his imminent death, an act he can barely wrap his head around.
