Sisters Rooney and Kate Mara star together for the first time in Bucking Fastard, a strange, dreamlike film loosely based on the true story of British twins Freda and Greta Chaplin who spoke in unison in their own language, shared the same dreams and loved the same man.
The film premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, and director Werner Herzog said playing dependent twins named Jean and Joan Holbrooke was so easy for de Maras that they didn’t even need the two weeks of rehearsal he had planned; he sent them home after five days.
Rooney Mara said: ‘It was quite daunting, the idea of playing the same person, but we discovered quite quickly that after having a whole life together and all the history and a childhood of playing together, there was a world between us, we didn’t have to work so hard to create it.
‘I’ve never laughed so much, we had so much fun. It was a unique experience.’
Kate added: ‘Once we got the rhythm of speaking in unison, it felt like a song, it was very musical.’
Sisters Rooney and Kate Mara star together for the first time in Bucking Fastard, a strange, dreamlike film loosely based on the true story of British twins Freda and Greta Chaplin
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, with Rooney and Kate in attendance
She added that director Herzog, “Wrote a beautiful letter to me and my sister about a year ago asking us to participate in this. We were both so excited because we had wanted to work together for a while, but nothing was right.
“This one was an instant no-brainer, and then it just so happened that it was these sisters who are so connected that they speak in unison and dream the same dreams.
‘It was so perfectly presented and the script was so special and strange, so it was an obvious choice to say yes to that. But it felt like it would never happen just because it was too good to be true.”
Set in Ireland, the film also stars Domhnall Gleeson as a social worker who tries to help the women, and Orlando Bloom as their lover.
The Chaplin sisters actually lived in York and rose to fame in the 1980s when they were at the center of a bizarre, high-profile trial in which they were each jailed for a month.
They were prosecuted at York Magistrates’ Court for breach of the peace for harassing a local lorry driver, Ken Iveson.
They were found guilty and sentenced to one month in prison. Herzog named the film after a verbal misstep by the Chaplin sisters in court.
During the bizarre real-life incident: The twins made the same verbal mistake, “bucking fastard,” at the same time in court.
(L-R) Domhnall Gleeson, Rooney Mara, Werner Herzog, Kate Mara and Orlando Bloom
Set in Ireland, the film also stars Domhnall Gleeson as a social worker who tries to help the women
Orlando Bloom will play their beloved Gareth Mulroney
They lived in hostels and shelters for a time because their parents couldn’t cope, but then lived independently in London before returning to York to their old family home.
The identical twins wore the same clothes, walked in step and spoke at the same time, and are now buried side by side in death.
They were known for their unique lifestyle and character, which often resulted in them blurting out the same sentences at the exact same time.
Greta died of ovarian cancer in 2007 at the age of 64, followed by Freda’s death in 2020 from unknown causes.
The pair are buried next to each other in a cemetery in their hometown of York.
Until shortly before Freda’s death in May, she visited her sister’s grave every day, family members say.
The siblings are best known for the trial in the early 1980s, which was covered by reporters from Brazil, Sweden and the US, as well as from across Britain.
York truck driver Ken Iveson claimed they chased him for years. It was said that they had developed an obsession with him, possibly because a mutual crush had been rejected.
The audience was stunned when Freda and Greta uttered the same words at the same time during the case, seemingly without any rehearsal or prompting.
According to press reports from the time, they said, “No, no, no, no, no. It’s not true. It’s not true. We haven’t been near him, we haven’t been there, it’s a bitter, bitter lie.’
Freda Chaplin died in May at the age of 77, 13 years after her twin brother Greta died at the age of 64 from ovarian cancer and carcinomatosis. She is buried with her sister in Fulford Cemetery, York.
The Chaplin sisters were known for being inseparable and living in complete harmony all their lives, wearing the same clothes, walking in line and talking at the same time.
A report at the time of the trial stated that their deputy headmaster blamed their extreme closeness on their mother.
“It was very clear that they had a loving mother who never allowed them to have a separate identity,” he said.
A magistrate jailed each of them, then aged 38, for a month for breach of the peace.
After serving their sentences, the twins received a lot of media attention and took part in two documentaries about their lives: A Pair of One by Julia Darling (1987) and The Twins by Journeyman Pictures (1994).
In their later years they lived a quiet and relatively secluded life together in a semi-detached house in York.
When Greta died, friends and neighbors feared how Freda would survive.
A family friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: ‘I thought she would have died within a week.
‘They did absolutely everything together: looking at each other with their headscarves and not at a mirror. They even vacuumed together.
‘But she did it. She had a cat and a dog and adored them. She lived on nothing. She ate bread and cheese or toast and cheese – no butter or anything.”
The friend also revealed that Freda had left her parents’ home for a local cat shelter, which is now caring for Molly, a cat.
Media interest continued after their conviction and two documentaries were made of their lives: A Pair of One by Julia Darling (1987) and The Twins by Journeyman Pictures (1994).
Freda is buried with her sister in a family plot at Fulford Cemetery, York. Proceeds from the sale of the twins’ semi-detached family home in Tang Hall will be left to charity
She said: ‘She (Freda) loved cats. She had one or two, she had Molly when she died.”
The friend added that Freda was suffering from cancer and lived in the family home until she was hospitalized in April.
She said: ‘She called me one day and said, ‘I’m not doing well.’
I said, ‘Go to bed, get a hot drink and stay warm – and start eating more than you are.’
‘The next morning they pushed her to an ambulance. That was the last I saw of her.’
She added: “She wasn’t really doing well. She had cancer a while ago. She always said to me, ‘well, I wouldn’t let my twin brother have treatment, so I won’t get it.’
Belinda Poulter, Freda’s lawyer for many years, said: ‘She was quiet but had some strong views on animal welfare and felt very strongly about them.’
She said about 10 people attended Freda’s funeral and she was buried “on top” of her sister in a double grave waiting for their headstone.
Freda and Greta were the daughters of James and Elsie Chaplin.
It was said that Freda and Greta were normal children, but became very dependent on each other as teenagers. They shouted when teachers made them sit apart at school, and resisted attempts to distinguish or divide them.
