Kate and Rooney Mara Surprise Venice as Sisters Who Speak and Move in Unison

Kate and Rooney Mara do not merely play sisters in Werner Herzog’s new film. In “Bucking Fastard,” they speak at the same time, move together and share a lover, the same dreams and an almost inseparable inner world.

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We practically did not need to rehearse, it only took us two weeks. They were so good that after five days I told them: Let’s leave it here. See you in Ireland in front of my camera.

The sisters play Jean and Joan Holbrooke in what Herzog presents as a modern fable. Their affection for a neighbor, played by Orlando Bloom, turns into revenge when they discover that he intends to marry. A restraining order sends them into exile and introduces them to other people, but they never abandon their search for love, even if finding it means digging through a mountain.

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At first it was quite intimidating, but we quickly discovered that, after a lifetime together, there was an entire implicit world between us that we did not have to work too hard to create. Once we found our rhythm, it was really... I do not think I have laughed so much in my life.

The unusual performance proved less difficult than expected. Herzog said the actresses needed only two weeks to prepare. After five days, he told them to stop rehearsing and meet him in Ireland in front of his camera. Rooney Mara said the role initially felt intimidating, but their lifelong closeness gave them an unspoken world to draw on. Once they found their rhythm, she said, the shoot became exceptionally funny.

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Once we got the rhythm of speaking in unison, it was almost like a song. Everything simply came together quite naturally and more easily than we expected.

Kate Mara compared speaking in unison to singing a song. She said the technique began to feel natural once they found the rhythm. Herzog said the idea for the dreamlike story, dedicated on screen to David Lynch, developed during a trip to Patagonia after he had spent years thinking about the twins Freda and Greta Chaplin. “The story was there, latent, asleep for decades, but when I knew I would have two actresses who were sisters, I knew the film had to be made,” he said.

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The story was there, latent, asleep for decades, but when I knew I would have two actresses who were sisters, I knew the film had to be made.