Werner Herzog Premieres 'Bucking Fastard' in Venice, Dedicates Film to David Lynch
Werner Herzog's new film Bucking Fastard held its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2026, screening in the Venezia 83 Competition section at Sala Grande (La Biennale di Venezia). Ahead of the premiere, Herzog dedicated the film to the late David Lynch (The Hollywood Reporter).
The film pairs real-life sisters Kate Mara and Rooney Mara as Jean and Joan Holbrooke — twins who speak in unison, love the same man, and share the same dreams. Domhnall Gleeson plays Timothy, a government-assigned social worker tasked with the sisters' case. Orlando Bloom rounds out the principal cast as Gareth Maloney, the sisters' ex-lover (Deadline).
The story moves between contemporary urban settings and the rugged wilderness of Ireland, a duality that sits comfortably in Herzog's long-standing fascination with the collision between civilised order and untamed landscape. Wu Tsai, Ariel Leon Isacovitch, and Agnes Chu produced, with Kieran Corrigan, Emanuele Moretti, and Andrea Bucko serving as executive producers (Deadline).
The Venezia 83 Competition is the top competitive section at the festival, one of several programmed strands that also include Out of Competition, Orizzonti, and Venice Classics, among others (La Biennale di Venezia). A competition slot at Venice places a film in the running for the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, and typically signals a distributor's intent to position the title for autumn awards consideration.
Herzog's dedication to Lynch carries its own weight. Lynch, who died in January 2025, was a film-maker whose surreal, dreamlike sensibility reshaped American independent cinema. The two directors, born a year apart, spent their careers operating outside the Hollywood mainstream — Herzog through his self-financed expeditions and obsessive subjects, Lynch through his fractured narratives and suburban uncanny. A dedication from one to the other is a gesture between peers who rarely occupied the same room but shared an instinct for the strange.
For the cast, the premiere marks a return to the Lido's red carpet for several familiar faces. Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, though sisters in life, have rarely appeared on screen together. Gleeson, fresh from a steady run of indie and studio work, takes on a role that sits between bureaucratic functionary and something stranger. Bloom's involvement adds marquee value to a film that, by Herzog's standards, will likely travel through specialised distribution rather than wide release.
No distribution deal for Bucking Fastard has been publicly confirmed. Festival premieres of this profile often attract acquisitions interest from specialty distributors — A24, Neon, and Searchlight among the usual buyers — though no talks have been reported.
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs through September 12, 2026, with competition winners announced at the closing ceremony.
