Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

Peter Bogdanovich

Orson Welles author-confidant-filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich returns to the big-screen at the helm of a new Jennifer Aniston film.

Bogdanovich will direct Aniston, Cybill Shepherd, Brie Larson and Owen Wilson in "She's Funny That Way," from a screenplay he wrote with his ex-wife, Louise Stratten.

The comedy, earlier titled "Squirrel to the Nuts," centers on a married Broadway director (Wilson) who falls for a prostitute-turned-actress (Larson) and works to further her career. Aniston will play a therapist whose mother is in rehab for alcoholism. Earlier in pre-production, Olivia Wilde had been rumored to play the part of the therapist.

Filming begins in June in New York, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"She's Funny That Way" reunites Bogdanovich with his one-time love Shepherd, who he directed in "The Last Picture Show," "Daisy Miller" and "At Long Last Love." Read the rest of this entry »

By RAY KELLY

Recently, we looked at the impressive Library of Congress online collection related to the Federal Theatre Project. However, it is not the only government website that allows us to revisit Orson Welles' work in the 1930s.

The National Archives offers online visitors a glimpse into two of the more than 600 letters written to the Federal Communications Commission immediately after "The War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. The Mercury Theatre on Read the rest of this entry »

Orson Welles in the Federal Theater Project's production of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. Library of Congress collection.

The Library of Congress American Memory website contains a vast collection of scripts, internal documents and memorabilia related to the Federal Theatre Project and the works of a young Orson Welles.

The website has a treasure trove of items from Welles' 1936 production of "Voodoo" Macbeth and his 1937 staging of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus.

As part of FDR's New Deal, the Federal Theatre Project funded theater and other live Read the rest of this entry »

Milan Records will release a digitally remastered edition of the score for Carol Reed's "The Third Man" starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles on February 5.

According the label, “The pioneering original musical score, composed by Viennese musician Anton Karas, was only performed on the zither. The harrowing sound perfectly complementing this dark classic.”

Karas' "The Harry Lime Theme" sold 500,000 copies upon its release in 1949, a staggering amount for that era. The tune became closely associated with Welles. Read the rest of this entry »

By RAY KELLY

Nearly 75 years later, the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast continues to inspire.

Last year, the faux documentary "War of the Worlds: The True Story" was released to movie theaters. Now, a one-act play based on the 1938 broadcast has won an Oregon competition for playwrights.

"We Interrupt This Program," by Justin Blasdel of Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a comedy about two families' contrasting reactions to the Mercury Theatre broadcast on October 30, 1938.

The Astor Street Opry Co., which organized the competition, will stage "We Interrupt This Program" during its New Works Festival from Februay 1 through 16 in Astoria, Oregon. It will be directed by Markus Brown, and star Kendall McEuen, Tieler Ferrell, Josh Loring and Ben VanOsdol.

Tickets are priced at $15 or less and available by calling (503) 325-6104 or online at www.astorstreetoprycompany.com Read the rest of this entry »

An opposition Iranian satellite channel based in London aired “Genocide,” the acclaimed Academy Award-winning documentary on the Holocaust produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It was broadcast with Farsi subtitles on January 25.

The Wiesenthal Center coordinated the showing to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Welles, along with Elizabeth Taylor, narrated the film, which won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 1982.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has maintained the Holocaust – and the extermination of 6 million Jews at the hands of Nazis – never happened.

“It’s a payback for the Iranian regime,” center founder and dean Rabbi Marvin Hier told Fox News of the broadcast. “They want to lock society. They want to deny the Holocaust, and now their whole population can see the truth and there’s nothing the Ayatollahs or Ahmadinejad can do about it.”
Read the rest of this entry »

By RAY KELLY

The book "My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles," which Wellesnet reported on back in October, will also be released as an unabridged audio book on July 9.

Presumably the audio book will utilize the recordings made by Jaglom during Welles' final years. While the hardcover book will carry a $27 list price, Macmillan/ Metropolitan Books has listed the audio book at $39.99. It will be issued on compact disc. A running time has not been announced.

Peter Biskind (”Easy Riders, Raging Bulls”) is editing the book using transcripts of conversations taped by Jaglom.

Jaglom has stated he recorded their frequent lunchtime chats at Ma Maison with Welles’ knowledge. However, some Welles associates have maintained he was unaware he was being taped until shortly before his death. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Bogdanovich in a scene from The Other Side of the Wind.

By LAWRENCE FRENCH

Orson Welles had completed most of the principal photography on The Other Side of the Wind by 1976, and shortly afterwards the film became embroiled in legal entanglements with it's Iranian backers. As a result, Welles found himself once again forced to abandon a cherished project, in this case the movie that he hoped would be his testament, as well as his triumphant comeback film, especially after the renewed interest in Welles work that was generated by the AFI Lifetime achievement award, held in March, 1975.

In this 1977 letter to the film’s primary backer, Medhi Bouscheri of Les Films de l’Astrophore, Welles explains why he had finally decided to abandon work on the film: Read the rest of this entry »

By LAWRENCE FRENCH

Having seen a nearly complete rough cut of The Other Side of the Wind, I can easily see why it has baffled so many people. But having studied the script in some depth, and having seen many of the clips in isolation many times, (including the material recently posted by Henry Jaglom on YouTube), I find the film becomes more exciting and fascinating  every time I view footage from it. I was especially taken with John Huston's performance in the Jaglom clips, and this footage clearly shows him to his best advantage, since it features him more prominently than any of the other scenes that have been shown publicly (and after all JAKE is the main character in the movie).

I think part of the problem for a great many people is that the material is in a very "rough cut" state, with wildly varying picture and sound quality. This, of course can be easily corrected, if access to the original negative is ever granted. The other problem is Welles' own very fragmented cutting style, where single lines are often played out over multiple very quick cuts, making it sometimes difficult to know who is speaking, or indeed what is even happening, as many scenes are played in semi-darkness after the lights have failed. Read the rest of this entry »

Oja Kodar

Interviews with Orson Welles' longtime love and collaborator Oja Kodar are rare to come by, but the Hungarian website mozinet.hu recently spoke with the Croatian actress-writer.

Sadly, none of the six questions asked of Kodar delved into the status of "The Other Side of the Wind" or any of Welles' unfinished film projects.

Even with the best Read the rest of this entry »

A scene from the 1966 film Orson Welles in Spain.

There is one town that would be better than Aranjuez to see your first bullfight in if you are only going to see one and that is Ronda. That is where you should go if you ever go to Spain on a honeymoon or if you ever bolt with anyone. The entire town and as far as you can see in any direction is romantic background... If a honeymoon or an elopement is not a success in Ronda, it would be as well to start for Paris and commence making your own friends.
— Ernest Hemingway, "Death in the Afternoon" (1932)

A man is not from where he is born, but where he chooses to die.
— Orson Welles
_____

By LAWRENCE FRENCH

Listening to Orson Welles talking about Spain and bullfighting in the Maysles brothers short film, Orson Welles in Madrid, 1966, and in the 1974 Michael Parkinson interview, (both on Read the rest of this entry »

David Frost and Orson Welles

Orson Welles appearance on The David Frost Show recorded on May 12, 1970 came before most of the numerous biographies about Welles had been published, providing us with Welles' own point of view on some very interesting aspects of his life and work.

This interview also took place in the midst of the cultural revolution of the late sixties, when Welles was still at work on his planned TV show, Orson's Bag, and in a few months would begin shooting on The Other Side of the Wind. Both projects related rather heavily on various aspects of the counter-culture and youth movement that was so much a part of Read the rest of this entry »