VENICE — Kate Mara and Rooney Mara are finally appearing in a movie together, but Werner Herzog apparently decided ordinary sisters would be too relaxing. In Bucking Fastard, they play twins who speak in perfect unison, share dreams and fall for the same man.
Reuters reports the film premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. It marks the first on-screen collaboration between the real-life sisters.
Five days to become one voice
Two weeks of rehearsal were planned, but Herzog ended the process after five days because the sisters’ synchronization convinced him they were ready. Kate compared the rhythm of speaking together to a song. Rooney said their shared history created an unspoken world they did not need to manufacture.
Herzog called the performance unprecedented. Orlando Bloom, who plays the man both characters love, described working opposite them as if they were breathing and thinking together.
The plot gets even more Herzog
The film draws inspiration from real British twins. When Bloom’s character leaves the sisters for another woman, he seeks a restraining order against them. The movie also stars Domhnall Gleeson and competes against 20 other films for Venice’s Golden Lion, awarded September 12.
The title is deliberately spelled Bucking Fastard, a spoonerism that guarantees autocorrect will spend awards season filing workplace grievances.
A very Gen X director remains unsupervised
Herzog’s career includes Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man. He belongs to the endangered category of filmmaker whose pitch meetings presumably end when everyone else becomes too afraid to ask a follow-up question.
No U.S. release date was listed in the festival information reviewed. For now, the movie remains a Venice curiosity: two famous sisters, one shared voice, Orlando Bloom and Werner Herzog turning family closeness into something beautiful enough to applaud and eerie enough to check behind you on the way home.
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