Alexander Welles - who is this?

[Orson&Jazz]

I was visting IMDb, looking at the "F For Fake" information they have there, and I come across the Cast listing.


Now I have never seen "F For Fake" yet, which is something I intend to fix of course, but I noticed a credited cast member named Alexander Welles. I click on his name and I notice that he is sometimes credited as Sasa Devcic or Sasha Welles.


I remember on another post some one mentioned that this Sasa Devcic is a nephew or something of Oja. Was that correct? Yet I find it weird that he would go under the name Alexander Welles or even Sasha Welles.


It seemes fishy to me, and kind of made me think that this Alexander Welles is some sort of Oja-Orson love child. I could be wrong of course. But, it still makes me wonder why he would have his name so closely linked to Orson's.


This probably has already been brought up on these boards, so if any one can enlighten me that would be great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072962/

[marcoshark]

Orson & Jazz,
I believe this person is seen in the beginning of "FifF". Oja mentions this in the commentary as well. As to the opening of this movie pulls you right in and imho, in Welles performance, you see more than a glimmer of the Welles of old. Maybe an echo of Harry Lime?

Go, no run and buy or rent this DVD and enjoy it.

[Glenn Anders]

Someone here has suggested that the little boy identified by various names was a nephew of Oja's, but we have certainly been fooled in the marvelous land of lore in the past.

Glenn

[Eve_h]

As a I mentioned here before, Oja Kodar told Stefan Droessler in an interview ('Oja as a Gift' in 'The Unknown Orson Welles') that the little boy was Sasha, the son of her sister Nina. She also said that Nina had separated from her husband and 'fled' with her son and Oja from ex-Yugoslavia.
Then she started working for Welles as an editor (her first job was on 'The Deep'). (p. 34)
This could maybe explain the IMDb source stating that Alexander Welles (as Sasa Devcic) worked as an editor on TOSOTW.

[Orson&Jazz]

I was wondering, when did Orson meet Oja, and when did they begin their relationship?

And how old do you suppose was Alexander Welles when he appeared in "F For Fake"? Was he a young man or a boy?

I am just trying to establish by Alex's age to see if it is even possible for him to be a Orson-Oja love child. Because if his age seems to be older, meaning that he was born before Orson and Oja met, then there is no way that he can be their child.

Also this still doesn't explain why he would use the name Alexander Welles or Sasha Welles. Maybe it's just a simple case of him wanting to change his name, but it still makes it look fishy that he used Orson's last name. Spelled the same way too.

???

[Tony]

Welles met Oja in 1962 when he was shooting The Trial; they met again in 66 when he was promoting Falstaff, and at that time he gave her a letter that he had written to her in 1962, but had never given to her, and which he had been carrying around in his pocket for four years. So: they probably had a "fling' in 62, but started their relationship in 1966.

F For fake was filmed in 1972, I believe, or very close to that date. The little boy who Welles does magic tricks with is somewhere between 5-7 years old approx.; he sure does look look like a little Orson, however he is blonde, and Welles and Kodar weren't/aren't. Still, the dates tally perfectly.

hmmm....

[Orson&Jazz]

So, there could be a possibility that this Alex is an Orson-Oja love child...hmm, very interesting.


Also Welles does allow his children to be in his films. Like Beatrice and Christopher.


Oja does have all the rights to TOSOTW right? So, I can see how Alex can have access to editing the film. I know Orson had input in editing it some of it, but did Oja edit it as well? Or was it all left in the hands of Alex to edit it? That seems like a big risk to allow a nephew to edit a highly anticipated film for the Welles fanbase.

It seems a little romantic if Alex was Orson's son, and he's given the job of editing daddy's long awaited film!



Of course this is all speculation, but it does seem all to fishy to me right now....

[Glenn Anders]

I think we may be making too much of Alexander Welles, but the little boy in F FOR FAKE with Welles and Oja, the nephew of Oja, and their mutual grins, always struck me as the most delightful of "tricks." It would not be the first time that a girl got someone else to raise her baby. Even here, in Christian America, I've run into a number of people, especially younger daughters, who found that their older sister was their mother, and that their "mother" was really their grandmother. It happens all the time.

The little boy certainly looks like Welles, and the blond hair might be the product of French or Adriatic sunlight.

As for letting his children play in his movies, from MACBETH (1948) on, Welles did that often.

Glenn

[babus]

Glenn Anders
What other movies did Welles have his kids play in?

[Tony]

Beatrice was in Falstaff as a page I believe; Rebecca was in Macbeth, I think as one of McDuff's children, but I'm not sure that Christopher was in anything; I have a memory that she was, though... and now we have Sacha Welles in F for Fake; of course Welles always put his gilrfriends or wives in his films and plays too: Delores del Rio in Journey into Fear, Rita in The Lady From Shanghai, Eartha Kitt in Time Runs, Paola in Mr. Arkadin, Don Quixote and the Trial, Jeanne Moreau (?) in The Trial, Falstaff, The Immortal Story, The Deep (where she didn't get along with Oja Kodar), and almost The Other Side of the Wind (which had a part for her, but she refused) and Oja in The Other side of the Wind, F For Fake, and several planned projects such as The Dreamers, The Big Brass Ring and King Lear (as Cordelia).

Of course, Moreau is just a speculation; the rest are confirmed.

[NoFake]

Actually, its seems that Christopher was in Macbeth: At the May 4 performance of "Orson's Shadow" in New York, she told how she had begged her father to allow her to be in it because Shirley Temple, who lived next door, was in films. She admitted not having understood her lines at the time; she basically just parroted them. Needless to say, he did not encourage her to pursue acting as a career, and was pleased that she shared his love for art, literature, and classical music, which he did encourage.

[Orson&Jazz]

It seems like it would be the opportune moment to introduce another child. "F For Fake" is all about trickery is it not? It would definitely be the perfect opportunity.


Because then the viewer would not know if this Alexander Welles was in fact Orson's child or just some one that looks like it could be. It would make the viewer contemplate. Is Alex really his child, or is it one of Welles' tricks in the film? And if Alex really was, then the viewer would be none the wiser, because they would just shrug it off as a coincidence, or one of Welles' tricks. When all this time, Welles has pulled a fast one.


Mr. Welles is indeed the wily one.