film

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

Creepy real-life details on the new Werner Herzog:

Produced by David Lynch, the film is based on the true story of a southern California actor who kills his mother. And proving life can be stranger than fiction, Herzog said the real-life actor was known in some circles for playing the role of Orestes, who in the Greek tragedy kills his mother.

Herzog said that, when he decided to do the film, he visited the man after his release from a mental institution, where he had lived 8 1/2 years after being declared unfit to stand trial.

"From a distance, I could tell he was still kind of dangerous, still really insane," Herzog said. He recalled finding in the actor's small trailer home a poster of Herzog himself with a crucifix over it and a candle beneath. "After that meeting, I never contacted him again."