Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | July 24, 2026
Werner Herzog is back behind the camera for his first feature film in seven years. Germany’s most memed director has been busy writing novels and hanging out with baby Yoda, but now he’s got an amazing sort-of true story to tell, and it has the best title of the year: Bucking Fastard. Try saying that twice as fast.
Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, real-life sisters and joint football heiresses, star as Jean and Joan Holbrooke, based on identical twin sisters Freda and Greta Chaplin. The pair were known for their extremely odd habit of doing everything in unison: talking, walking, moving, and eventually having a restraining order put on them by a man they became mutually obsessed with. The title refers to a verbal slip the pair made while testifying in court. It’s already an extremely Herzogian story but he’s added a couple of twists. The sisters are still obsessed with a local man, played here by Orlando Bloom, but they’re also “in search of an imaginary land where true love is possible, [and] start digging a tunnel through a mountain range.”
I’m sold. Bucking Fastard will premiere in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. It had originally been offered a world premiere at Cannes but not in competition, which Herzog turned down. To celebrate the news, he took to Instagram to share the first clip of the movie, featuring the sisters testifying in court and Orlando Bloom in full Gaston mode.
If you’re not following Herzog on Instagram, do so now. He is truly a delight. Also, according to Kate Mara, when he’s done with a scene, he doesn’t say “Cut,” but “End it.” I love him.
Honestly, Bucking Fastard seems rather normal compared to Herzog at his mad peak. This is the guy who made Fitzcarraldo, after all. He made Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans even though he’d never seen the original movie. For Aguirre, Wrath of God, he hired a ton of locals in the Pervian jungle to trap 400 monkeys for his climax and pretended to be a veterinarian to obtain them when the trappers tried to sell them to someone else. Making a drama with the Mara sisters about twins’ sexual obsession with Orlando Bloom sounds like a breeze in comparison!
