// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Bucking Fastard a horse? Neigh, it's just a name.

Bucking Fastard
Directed by	Werner Herzog
Written by	Werner Herzog
Produced by	Clara Wu Tsai Ariel Leon Isacovitch Agnes Chu Kieran Corrigan Emanuele Moretti Andrea Bucko Nick N Raslan
Starring	Kate Mara Rooney Mara Orlando Bloom Domhnall Gleeson
Cinematography	Peter Zeitlinger
Edited by	Marco Capalbo
Music by	Ernst Reijseger
Production companies	Cobalt Sky Motion Picture Group Gateway to Orkney
Release date	September 2026 (2026-09) (Venice)
Running time	109 minutes
Countries	Ireland United States
Language	English

Bucking Fastard is an upcoming drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog, and starring Kate and Rooney Mara alongside Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson.

The film will have its world premiere at the main competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September 2026, where it will compete for the Golden Lion.

Premise

Sisters Jean and Joan Holbrooke, in search of an imaginary land where true love is possible, start digging a tunnel through a mountain range.

Cast

• Kate Mara as Jean Holbrooke
• Rooney Mara as Joan Holbrooke
• Orlando Bloom as Gareth Mulroney
• Domhnall Gleeson as Timothy
• Hugh O'Conor

Production

Referring to unrealized projects in a chapter of his 2022 memoir Every Man for Himself and God Against All, filmmaker Werner Herzog mentioned the film as being about British identical twin sisters Freda and Greta Chaplin, who gained notoriety in the 1980s for having a restraining order put on them by a man they both became involved with. The title, Bucking Fastard, refers to a synchronized verbal slip the sisters made in court.

In February 2025, it was announced that Herzog would make a film under the same name based on a true story about twins Joan and Jean, with real-life siblings Kate and Rooney Mara on board to star. It would be the sisters' first project together. Speaking about working with her sister for the first time, Kate said: "We've been looking for something to do together for a while. The first hurdle was finding a filmmaker that we both like, and while we like a lot of the same things, we both had an equal excitement about working with Werner. We're playing total equals who speak in unison and do everything the same. They dream the same in the film, and they're so in sync. We could have never imagined finding two roles in a film where we're literally equals in so many ways, and it was just so perfect."

Principal photography took place at Dublin's Pigeon House film studios and in and around the town of Naas; the Mara sisters were spotted during shooting on Dublin's Capel Street in early April, with additional scenes set to be filmed in Slovenia. Filming wrapped by the end of the month, with Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson being revealed as part of the cast. Herzog reunited with various collaborators, including cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, editor Marco Capalbo, and composer Ernst Reijseger.

Release

In May 2026, Variety reported that the film was offered a world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in the non-competitive official selection lineup, but the proposal was rejected because the film was not offered a competition slot.

External links

• Bucking Fastard at IMDb