‘The Other Side of the Wind’ being finished in Los Angeles for Netflix

[Wellesnet]

‘The Other Side of the Wind’ is being finished by Frank Marshall, Filip Jan Rymsza and Peter Bogdanovich in Los Angeles for Netflix
Full details at http://www.wellesnet.com/other-side-of-the-wind-footage-netflix-to-release-orson-welles-film/

[Roger Ryan]

I guess Bogdanovich wasn't that far off when he said they could start editing Wind in March. Coming only days after the news that Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has begun principal photography, I'm one happy film fan. I've waited nearly twenty years to see the latter and forty years to see the former. Now I just have to keep myself alive.

[jbrooks]

Great news!

[jtarvainen]

Wonderful!

[Jay]

I'm so excited for this. Now I just need to pick up Josh Karp's book to get myself fully informed before the release.

[atcolomb]

Great news indeed and not a current Netflix subscriber I might do that just to see it or just wait for the Blu-ray release.

[RayKelly]

Great news indeed and not a current Netflix subscriber I might do that just to see it or just wait for the Blu-ray release.

There are announced plans for a limited ed. DVD and Blu-ray for Indiegogo subscribers. With Netflix being a streaming service, I tend to doubt there will be an immediate home video release.

[Jarpie]

There's been so many false starts and stops that I believe it when I see it.

[Roger Ryan]

Understandable, but there is reason to be optimistic: not once during the past thirty-odd years of negotiations and planned releases have the negatives actually left the lab in Paris...until last week. That alone is monumental.

[Jarpie]

Oh I agree, big step forward but you never know what can happen. I am a bit concerned that are they able to replicate/recreate Welles' editing style, because he had his own style.

[jbrooks]

I am a bit concerned that are they able to replicate/recreate Welles' editing style, because he had his own style.

I share that concern. The editing scheme was about as complex as one could imagine. Obviously, much will be lost just by the fact that Welles isn't here to finish the editing himself. How would "F for Fake" have turned out if an editor had only been handed the dailies and had no Welles to explain the footage and supervise the edit? The producers need to find an editor who can both approximate Welles editing style and rhythms and also bring his own artistic sensibility to the assembly. Joseph McBride has written about the challenge of how to integrate the film-within-a-film footage. Those choices won't be easy, but they will be crucial. Who that decision-maker is will matter a lot. (I wonder if Steven Soderbergh is available.)

I am also concerned that there may not be enough footage to finish the film properly. The published version of the script ends with Dale finally re-appearing at the party after Hannaford has left. That scene feels very signficiant to me. But apparently it was never shot. Who knows what other missing pieces there may be when all the footage is finally available.

[Roger Ryan]

...The published version of the script ends with Dale finally re-appearing at the party after Hannaford has left. That scene feels very signficiant to me. But apparently it was never shot. Who knows what other missing pieces there may be when all the footage is finally available.

I agree the Dale scene as scripted would have been a significant way to end the film, but, as I understand it, Welles rewrote the ending during the shoot, keeping the final action at the drive-in theater with Hannaford's recorded comments being played through the car speakers at the drive-in. If I'm remembering correctly, Rymsza confirmed this footage and audio exists. That's not to say that it won't be a monumental challenge to edit the film in a dynamic manner comparable to what Welles intended, but I don't think the Netflix deal would have happened if the producers weren't certain they have enough material to complete a feature film.

[jbrooks]

Here's a fascinating video showing the packing of the film materials in France last week.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo. ... 05633.html

It's exciting, but the clip gives me the impression that the producers do not yet know exactly what is there.

[atcolomb]

Thanks for the link jbrooks and it will be very interesting on what the finished release will look like and how close to Orson's vision of the film.

[Roger Ryan]

...It's exciting, but the clip gives me the impression that the producers do not yet know exactly what is there.

I thought the same thing, but then Rymsza says at the beginning of the video that he has been examining the materials/documents periodically over the past two or three years. If that's true then I suspect some of the conversation with the lab employees may have been staged for the cameras. The "Let's pretend you're explaining this to me for the first time" approach is a common way to make documentary footage feel more "in the moment".