My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

What happens when two of cinema’s greatest (and oddest) filmmakers collaborate on a project? The answer is: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. A new feature film directed by Werner Herzog and produced by David Lynch.

Starring Willem Dafoe, Michael Shannon, Chloe Sevigny and Brad Dourif, the film is centred around the strange (what else?), true life tale of a disturbed man obsessed with a Sophocles play, who murders his mother with a sword.

Werner Herzog, since his award-winning documentary Grizzly Man, has undergone a career renaissance. Along with Rescue Dawn, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and his documentary features, he doesn’t seem to stop! As a filmmaker, he’s often displayed a penchant for the eccentric and weird. David Lynch, on the other hand, is downright weird through-and-through. Things have been quiet for Lynch since Inland Empire – an infuriating and brilliant film measure-for-measure.

Is this a one-off collaboration, or will this be a new match made in cinema heaven? Given Herzog’s wanderlust and Lynch’s other committments, it’s difficult to tell. The film received its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival back in October. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is set for limited release in the US in December, and worldwide in 2010.

Tags: Brad Dourif, chloe sevigny, david lynch, michael shannon, Sophocles, werner herzog, willem dafoe