My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWerner Herzog
Written by
Produced byEric Bassett
Starring
CinematographyPeter Zeitlinger
Edited byJoe Bini
Omar Daher
Music byErnst Reijseger
Production
companies
Industrial Entertainment
Defilm
Paper Street Films
Distributed byIFC Films (United States)
Kinowelt Filmverleih (Germany)
Release dates
  • September 5, 2009 (2009-09-05) (Venice)[1]
  • December 11, 2009 (2009-12-11) (United States)[2]
Running time
91 minutes[3]
CountriesUnited States
Germany
LanguageEnglish

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is a 2009 crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog, and written by Herzog and Herbert Golder. The film stars Michael Shannon as Brad McCullam, a mentally unstable man who kills his own mother (played by Grace Zabriskie) after becoming obsessed with a play he is starring in. The film follows a hostage situation resulting from the murder, while also showing the events of McCullam's life leading up to the murder in flashback, with Willem Dafoe appearing as the lead detective, and Chloë Sevigny as McCullam's fiancée.[4][5]

The film is loosely based on the story of Mark Yavorsky, an actor at the University of San Diego who reenacted a scene from Orestes by murdering his mother with an antique saber.[6] However, Herzog has stated that "about 70 percent of the script is false",[7] with Herzog and Golder desiring to deviate from the true events, and instead focus on the main character's mental state. The film was conceived and written in 1995, but Herzog and Golder were unable to find anyone to produce it.[8] David Lynch eventually became interested, and produced the film through his production company Absurda.

The film premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2009, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion, along with another film directed by Herzog, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. This marked the first time that two films in one year by the same director were nominated for the award.

  1. ^ "La Biennale 66th International Film Festival, 2-12 September 2009 Screenings". Venice Biennale. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  2. ^ Miska, Brad (November 5, 2009). "'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done' Gets NY Theatrical Date, Official Poster!'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  3. ^ "MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 18, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  4. ^ Grant, Lee (April 5, 2009). "Inspired by tragedy". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on 2010-09-22. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  5. ^ Kit, Borys (February 8, 2009). "'Done' Deal: Trio joins Herzog thriller". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  6. ^ Berghaus, Robin. "A Murder That Mimicked Greek Tragedy". BU Today. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  7. ^ "My Son My Son What Have Ye Done". Werner Herzog official website. Werner Herzog Film. November 16, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014.
  8. ^ Eric Bassett, Herbert Golder, Werner Herzog, audio commentary on DVD release of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done