Fade to Black - Danny Huston to Play Orson Welles

[Gordon]

Danny Huston and Paz Vega in 'Fade to Black', directed by Oliver Parker adapted from a novel by Davide Ferrario.

'Fade to Black' is set in 1948 Rome. Orson Welles travels to Italy to film 'Black Magic' ('Cagliostro') only to be drawn into a dangerous web of intrigue, murder and politics when an actor is murdered on his set. Welles gets entangled with Italian star Lea Padovani and stumbles into an American plot to subvert the Italian elections so that the communists don't take over Italy.

[jaime marzol]

danny huston could play orson. i just saw him in THE AVIATOR. also interesting, decaprio, who i have never liked, was good, and could have also been playing orson. i saw more orson visually than i did hughes.

the movie was pretty darn good with excellent commentary and lots of extras. and the blue grass was brilliant. what a great way to escape having horrible green grass in a period piece, scorsese used the 2 color process of the period that makes everything blue and brown, and it looks fabulous.

i lost track of scorsese after casino. i just found him again. so glad every one thought the movie was good.

[Anton]

It looks like a very interesting movie- here's hoping it gets finished. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Ferrario's novel has never been published in English, has it? Maybe if the movie gets any kind of U.S. distribution, we'll get a translation of the book too.

[Clive Dale]

When a bit player is murdered on the film set, Welles' love of mystery gets the better of him and, with the help of his driver, an ex-cop called Tommaso, he turns amateur sleuth.
The duo discover Welles' name is on a hit list in a conspiracy that goes right to the top.

from: Variety: Reality blurs on 'Black' set, Sep. 6, 2005,

...Based on Italian Davide Ferrario's novel and initially adapted as a screenplay by John Sayles, "Fade to Black" fictionalizes Orson Welles' visit to Rome after the breakup of his marriage to Rita Hayworth. While in Rome, he acted in "Black Magic" and tried to raise money for his next film, "Othello."

Sayles and later Parker himself used these real-life facts to weave a plot that's part murder mystery, part love triangle and part political conspiracy.

"There are hints of 'The Third Man' but really the story feels like it's Orson Welles stuck in a film of his own creation. I'm fascinated by the theme of truth vs. illusion and it's the perfect material to have Orson as a character. So many of his films are nearly all about 'Is it fact or fiction?'" explains Parker who, like Welles, has adapted "Othello" for the bigscreen...

...(Danny) Huston remembers how his father, legendary helmer John Huston, took him when he was a teen to have lunch with Welles at what is now Ago restaurant in L.A. "He and my father loved each other. (Welles) was eating a tremendous amount, which I guess was a symptom of his desire for affection but also of self-loathing."

Huston says the character he's creating in this film is an amalgamation of the Welles he knew, but also of his father and parts of himself. "And anyone who knows the desperation of trying to get your film financed. In this scene right now I have to say hello to potential financiers and do a bit of ass-licking, even though I'd like to have a quiet meal. I know that world, it's the world I grew up in."

Or as Huston, who has directed films, puts it: "You have to use it. Welles had such a hard time making 'Othello' in Morocco because he had all the actors but no costumes. So he did a scene in a Turkish bath where they could be naked. When you're making an independent film, necessity is the mother of invention."

From: LA Times: August 28, 2005 'He's full of surprises'(interview with Danny Huston)

Did you ever meet Welles?

I met him a couple of times, but obviously later in his life than the age I am playing. It was in L.A., and it was a hot, hot summer, and he was eating a lot. I remember my father being slightly taken aback by the amount that was being consumed. They worked together on a picture called "The Other Side of the Wind" that was never released. They are still trying to get it released. Unfortunately, it was one of the brothers of the shah who financed that.