It's not actually an update, but it's always good time to talk about Orson Welles, so let's get started!
You probably already know that there's an unfinished Welles' movie, or a masterpiece, that will finally see a theatrical release nearly four decades later.
Titled The Other Side of the Wind, the movie portrays ‘the last hours of an ageing film director attempting to revive his career by making a trippy movie filled with sex and violence…'
Welles started shooting the film in 1972 with John Huston as the star. Apparently, he has told Huston that the movie is: “…about a bastard director… full of himself, who catches people and creates and destroys them. It's about us, John.”
The film also starred Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg and had appearances by Dennis Hopper, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom and Claude Chabrol. But then, the unedited film has been hidden away, and just when we thought that it would never see the light of day – something changed.
Kenneth Sidle, a lawyer involved in the dispute over rights to the film said back in January: “We are in negotiations for the picture, which would lead to the finishing and public exhibition. Hopefully within the next few weeks we will know.”
Producer Françoise Widhoff, who worked with Welles on “F For Fake” says the raw footage should be seen, but not edited while filmmaker and Welles collaborator Andrés Vicente Gómez agreed that its completion would be an “act of betrayal.”
Describing it as Welles's “testament” he said:
“The main character is a mix of Hemingway, Huston and himself… It was a film very close to him. But his physical condition was delicate. He didn't have the energy to cut it.”
We're definitely hoping to hear more updates on the whole thing, so stay tuned!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0kdTPd5XJM&feature[/youtube]
The Other Side Of The Wind – a clip from the unfinished and unreleased last film of Orson Welles
This story has been exposed as hoax. Courtsey of Wellesnet:
“Dalya Alberge’s report was a complete disgrace, as there was clearly no understanding of the true facts behind the situation. Apparently, The Observer and The Guardian no longer have any “fact checkers” on their staff, as this story is really quite preposterous.
[…]
The Observer also couldn’t even find a picture of Orson Welles from the filming of OSOTW to run with their report, which included this fictitious caption: “The Other Side of the Wind portrays the last hours of film director Orson Welles.” Well, that is certainly news to me, as well as to Oja Kodar, who I called after reading the article that tells of her “selling her interest in the film” to confirm if it was actually true or not. This is something that Dalya Alberge obviously didn’t bother to do. While I didn’t hear back from Ms. Kodar, she has now already spoken out about the story, saying, “It is true that Jacqueline Boushehri, the wife of the Iranian producer and I are interested in the film being finally completed. But from Showtime we still have not received the details of a budget. Without it I won’t give the rights to anyone.” This echoes what Ms. Kodar told me, earlier, saying she would never sell the rights to OSOTW without the proper controls, saying it would be like pulling out her teeth.”
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1348