Why do we get the feeling Werner Herzog arrived in Cannes early, hit the open bar and woke up in an alley 17 hours later with a splitting headache and a pocketful of deal memos scrawled on cocktail napkins? Apparently he’s a guy who just can’t say no, but whatever the case, he’s definitely been a busy bee. Yesterday we told you about his highly dubious plan to remake The Bad Lieutenant with Nicolas Cage. This morning brings news of yet another project, this one a collaboration with David Lynch.
The two offbeat auteurs are teaming up for My Son, My Son, “a horror-tinged murder drama based on a true story.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Herzog and his longtime assistant director Herbert Golder co-wrote Son, loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword. The low-budget feature will flash back and forth from the murder scene to the disturbed man's story. A guerrilla-style digital video shoot on Coronado Island is tentatively set for March.”
Lynch will executive produce the project, but that’s not all he has on his plate. His Absurda label will also bring us the return of a director who could out-weird both Herzog and Lynch with one hand tied behind his back: El Topo maestro Alejandro Jodorowski. Asia Argento, Udo Kier and Nick Nolte will star in the “metaphysical gangster movie” King Shot. The Reporter notes that “Marilyn Manson is touted to appear as a prophet in the Sin City-style film, which producer Eric Bassett said has enough sex and violence to guarantee an NC-17 rating.”
Now it’s time for Werner to get some sleep, before we find out he’s agreed to do the next version of The Hulk or something.
