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

[Wellesnet]

Documentary by Oscar winner Morgan Neville to be released in tandem with the completed Wind:
http://www.wellesnet.com/morgan-neville ... -the-wind/

Other views:
NYT on the documentary,
A Morgan Neville Documentary Will Put an Unfinished Welles Film in Context:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/movi ... .html?_r=0

Mr. Neville, an ardent fan of Welles, said he wanted to unpack why the fiercely independent filmmaker did not thrive in what should have been fertile ground.

“At the beginning of the ’70s, everything was possible,” Mr. Neville said, referring to the surge in creative filmmaking that swept the movie industry after the demise of the traditional studio system and the rise of the counterculture. Welles should have been “the conquering hero of that new Hollywood,” he said, adding, “but nothing went right for the auteur.”

Variety,
Orson Welles Documentary in the Works at Netflix With ’20 Feet From Stardom’ Director:
http://variety.com/2017/film/news/orson ... 202427110/

Neville’s documentary will focus on Welles’ relationship with Hollywood, particularly on “The Other Side of the Wind.”

“‘The Other Side of the Wind’ has long been a ghostly legend in cinema history, but the story behind it is equally fascinating,” Neville said. “I’m excited to be able to tell the incredible story behind this film and to explore what made Welles such an enduring figure.”

[Wellesnet]

Netflix eyes Cannes 2018 for "Other Side of the Wind" world premiere:
http://www.wellesnet.com/netflix-eyes-c ... -premiere/

The Cannes Film Festival has been publicly sparring with Netflix over theatrical runs of their original films, but that has not soured Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos on the idea of debuting Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind there next year.

Cannes has been vocal in its criticism of Netflix, which does not release its original films theatrically in France thanks to a French law that prohibits films from streaming online for three years after their theatrical run.

Sarandos makes no bones that the pushback against his company’s presence at Cannes has been driven by French cinema-owners, who depend on the three-year law for a commercial advantage he believes is outdated.

[Wich2]

Great news! I enjoyed Neville's BEST OF ENEMIES, about the Gore Vidal/William Buckley feud. Good film.

It was indeed! To use some overused terms that really apply here, "frank and unflinching."

Not sure about the doc title though. I've never really cared for that statement by Welles - it smacks of self-pity

To be fair, I think Our Man Orson was not totally lacking in that very human characteristic...?

-Craig

[Wellesnet]

http://www.wellesnet.com/netflix-eyes-cannes-for-the-other-side-of-the-wind-premiere/

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has been talking this week with Cannes Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux about having The Other Side of the Wind world premiere at the festival in May 2018.

[Le Chiffre]

To be fair, I think Our Man Orson was not totally lacking in that very human characteristic...?

Sure, everyone's entitled to a little self-pity once in a while, but I'm a bit skeptical with that line as a summation of the entire Wind debacle. Just my opinion.

If I remember correctly, Welles made the "God how they'll love me..." statement in reference to not being able to get financing in Hollywood for any of his scripts. But I doubt there was anything personal about that. As he later admitted, "The pictures I like to make are not the kind of films Hollywood producers - and particularly modern Hollywood producers - want to make." That doesn't seem to have changed much since his death, although maybe the courageous move by Netflix to complete Wind will help. Who knows?

BTW, I like your Barrymore/Richard III idea. Good luck getting it going sometime.

[Roger Ryan]

By the time Welles proclaimed "They'll love me when I'm dead", he had already had a number of years of experiencing being revered for his early work but being turned down for any new project. The quote isn't exclusively about himself, but about how any artist (or filmmaker) can appear to gain admiration after their death simply because they're no longer around to interfere with the "narrative" of their own achievements. It's a part of human nature to categorize a person's life (Citizen Kane?) and put it into a neat little box. The praise can go up exponentially if that person is no longer around to challenge the perception.

[Le Chiffre]

The quote isn't exclusively about himself, but about how any artist (or filmmaker) can appear to gain admiration after their death simply because they're no longer around to interfere with the "narrative" of their own achievements.

That’s an interesting way to put it, and it somehow brings to mind Beatrice’s recent statement that her father would have been very angry about all the materials sent to the Lilly Library and the University of Michigan. Perhaps like the magician he was, he didn’t want people getting too good of a look behind the curtain, so to speak, or like Mr. Clay, he succumbed (whether tongue in cheek or not) to the folly of wanting to shape or even fabricate his own narrative.

As he joked to Bogdanovich, "I don't want what's written about me to be accurate. I want it to be flattering."

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

hey after all the articles ive been reading on orson welles it seems he wasnt liked very much. but ever since he passed away, may he rest in peace, people were going "we loved him. his movies were so good" and yet he seemed to not make very much off of them but others are or, hopefully, is beatrice welles making what her father would have made on them?

just wondering

nat

[Le Chiffre]

hey after all the articles ive been reading on orson welles it seems he wasnt liked very much

Yes and no. Welles certainly had his critics when he was alive - some of them pretty nasty indeed - but he also had many admirers all over the world who loved and lionized his work. True, he didn't make much money on his own films, but he made a lot of easy and lucrative cameos in other people's films because of his worldwide fame and reputation. This allowed to him to live comfortably, even lavishly, as he traveled the world, making these appearances, lecturing, etc. This reputation also helped him land the Paul Masson contract among other commercial endorsements, for which he was paid very well, allowing him to maintain three beautiful and spacious homes in LA, Las Vegas and Croatia. The "Villa Welles", overlooking the Adriatic sea, is especially impressive, and there's a video of it on Youtube.

There have been a lot of gains in getting Welles’s more obscure work out to the public since his death, but it seems to me that that has mainly been spearheaded by a similar international cult of admirers that also adored his work when he was alive. The perseverance shown by Netflix and others in getting the Wind completion and documentary going is nothing short of marvelous and hopefully will strengthen interest in his art, but just as Welles was essentially a cult figure in life, so he is likely to remain posthumously.

I don't know of anyone getting rich off of Orson Welles's work, but the OTHELLO and TOUCH OF EVIL restorations both made a profit when they were released, and Oja Kodar's camp reportedly got a pretty tidy sum from Netflix over the OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND deal, although I couldn't say how much.

[RayKelly]

hey after all the articles ive been reading on orson welles it seems he wasnt liked very much.

In May 1996, I was assigned by my editor at the newspaper to interview Mercedes McCambridge when she was in Springfield, Mass. for an event honoring her late friend Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel. There was a crowd of dignitaries around her. I asked a a few questions about Geisel. Then, I mentioned to her that really I wish we had time to talk about The Other Side of the Wind. She took my hand, choked up, and said "Ohhh, Orson's film." She led me away from the mayor and company to talk about how much she loved Orson and how hard he struggled to make his movies.

Two years ago at the Sedona Film Festival, Josh Karp moderated a panel on The Other Side of the Wind featuring crew members Frank Fiore, Pat McMahon, Rick Shore, Mike Ferris and Larry Jackson. Each gentleman spoke with deep affection about Welles.

I think Welles may have ranked the suits, but it seems he inspired loyalty from his cast and crew.

[Wich2]

I think Welles may have ranked the suits, but it seems he inspired loyalty from his cast and crew.

Ray, I think so. But -

- bracing honesty is part of the portrait, too! There are plenty of documented examples supporting the view of my late Mercurian friend Arthur Anderson:

"Orson was a genius - and a pain in the ass!"

-Craig

P.S. - >BTW, I like your Barrymore/Richard III idea. Good luck getting it going sometime.<

Thanks, Chief. There's his HAMLET, too...

[RayKelly]

bracing honesty is part of the portrait, too! There are plenty of documented examples supporting the view of my late Mercurian friend Arthur Anderson: "Orson was a genius - and a pain in the ass!"

I wasn't attempting to portray him as Mother Teresa, but I disagree with the assessment " it seems he wasnt liked very much."

I have spoken to many people who have worked with Welles and thought very highly of him.

[Wich2]

Oh, for sure!

Speaking as an actor, it's not at ALL uncommon to think of a director -

"Boy, is that habit of his annoying...

...and I'd work with him again, tomorrow!"

-Craig

P.S. - Also, as with most of us homo sapiens, I think O.W. mellowed with age? Arthur worked with him in that early era when the whole cast would be called for a rehearsal, wait around for hours while The Boss dined and yakked, and then have him rush in in a flurry, just to change everything they'd built up before! As his one-time right-hand-man Bill Herz told me of that time, "Move to L.A. with Orson? Oh GOD no! Just to sleep on his floor, so he could wake me up to work in the middle of the night?"

[Roger Ryan]

One thing I'm curious about: This reel labeled "Sex" is reportedly the footage of Kodar and Random having precisely that in the car and is, ostensibly, a scene from Hannaford's unfinished feature. Wasn't the footage of the "feature film" within the film of TOSOTW shot on 35mm while other formats (16mm, Super 8, videotape) were used for "documenting" everything else going on in the film? I'm surprised that the reel is labeled "16mm". Up to this point, TOSOTW discussions concerning film format has been primarily anecdotal, so I have no idea if Welles was shooting "Hannaford's film" on multiple formats for aesthetic reasons or if it was simply cheaper to switch to 16mm late in the shooting. The relatively poor quality of the workprint materials that have been excerpted or screened over the past decades make it difficult to determine if the original source was 16mm or 35mm. It probably doesn't matter much. Improvements in scanning and the ability to avoid generation loss when mastering a final edit should allow this footage to look better than it ever could in the past.

[RayKelly]

Wasn't the footage of the "feature film" within the film of TOSOTW shot on 35mm while other formats (16mm, Super 8, videotape) were used for "documenting" everything else going on in the film? I'm surprised that the reel is labeled "16mm".

Mike Teal made the same observation when he first saw the photo. It will be interesting if the film-within-a-film wasn't all shot in 35mm, but I don't want to read too much into film can labels at this point.
And you are absolutely right, it's hard to determine 16mm from 35mm based on the workprint.