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

[Roger Ryan]

Would love to hear Teresa's reaction to the film when she watches it, especially if anything she filmed was left out. Bob Murawski, if I remember correctly, has already stated that the bathroom sequence had to be toned down because some of it was too much...

From Nersesyan's description, it sounds like the ice cube girl's encounter with the Actress was shot at a different time and location than the rest of the bathroom sequence; I'm thinking it was some of goings-on in the bathroom stalls that Murawski felt were too explicit for the final cut and not the footage involving Nersesyan. For as fragmented as Wind is, Welles still had a remarkable ability to shoot things in different locations sometimes months or years apart and convince the viewer the action was all occurring sequentially in one location.

As to the toppling phallus moment, I find the image both ridiculously over-the-top (provoking a laugh at the lengths Hannaford was going to communicate his vision) and oddly profound. When I first heard fourteen years ago that the image was intended to appear near the end of the film, I couldn't imagine it would play as well as it does in the completed edit.

[Wich2]

The Wife and I both chuckled at the phalling moment, too; I'd bet Orson knew that would be the case?

Ray, many thanks for the Ice Cube interview. Good stuff.

Best,
- Craig

[MartynH]

On the subject of you know what. When Oja is cutting the dolls hair her finger pokes through in between it's legs. My first reaction was it's a penis. I'm not saying it was intended but that is what I thought. In fact, I have seen the film 8 times now and most of them I forget and think the same as I did first viewing.

[Le Chiffre]

There's little doubt in my mind it was intended that way. The film seems filled with castration or emasculation imagery. That's one of the reasons I was sorry to see that Mavis being Otterlake's girlfriend was obscured in the film. Hannaford's play for her would have been the most outrageous example of his toxic, self-destructive dickwaving and his need to emasculate other men. Self-destructive as it would have been part of the equation in Otterlake's decision to reject Hannoford's pleas for financial help.

It's interesting that Oja starts to cut off the finger/penis, but then cuts out the doll's eyes instead. Eyes have been seen as testicular symbols, as in Freud's interpretation of ETA Hoffman's classic story, THE SANDMAN.

[Wellesnet]

Crowd funding posters ready to go:

http://www.wellesnet.com/new-other-side-wind-poster/

Here is a look at three TOSOTW posters: (From left) the American Film Market poster, November 2014; theatrical release, fall 2018; and Indiegogo contributor perk, spring 2019.

[JMcBride]

I see the new poster misspells Bogdanovich one of the
two times it mentions Peter's name!

[RayKelly]

I see the new poster misspells Bogdanovich one of the
two times it mentions Peter's name!

The artwork I have posted is the (almost) final product. The error was caught before the print run.

[Le Chiffre]

I like the new poster better then the Netflix poster, which made it look too much like LAST PICTURE SHOW II.

John Huston: Orson, what page are we on?
Orson: Well John, what the hell difference does it make?
Huston: I want to know how drunk I'm supposed to be.

Drunk enough to hit on the high-school-age girlfriend of a guy you're trying to money out of.

[RayKelly]

For those who loved A FINAL CUT FOR ORSON, this promotional video from iZotope shows how Daniel Saxlid restored audio from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND with their RX software..

[Roger Ryan]

An interesting video. I wouldn't say the workprint audio samples used sounded especially atrocious, but the clean-up certainly helped. Had the attempt to complete the film happened a decade back, I imagine we'd just have to settle for a lot of extra hisses and hums on the soundtrack. The overall unevenness of the audio is one more thing that can be covered by Welles' conceit that the footage has all been shot/recorded on different equipment!

Of course, the statement at the end of the video that Citizen Kane had been shot at Paramount Studios is not quite accurate. Welles shot Kane at both RKO Studios' Gower street lot and at the RKO-Pathé lot in Culver City; the Gower street lot was eventually taken over by Paramount in the mid-60s, over twenty-five years after Welles finished shooting his first feature.

[nickleschichoney]

John Huston: Orson, what page are we on?
Orson: Well John, what the hell difference does it make?
Huston: I want to know how drunk I'm supposed to be.

Drunk enough to hit on the high-school-age girlfriend of a guy you're trying to money out of.

At least you can see the cut scene where Otterlake states that Mavis is “his” in the Neville doc. However, I kind of like how the Murawski cut makes her just a random, naive film student at the party, an object of lecherous power-plays from pretty much every guy there — Jake, Brooksie, Lou Martin, and even Rich Little!

[RayKelly]

An interesting video. I wouldn't say the workprint audio samples used sounded especially atrocious, but the clean-up certainly helped.

Agreed, though I suspect there were far worse sections given that they brought Danny Huston and others in to loop dialogue.
At the 1:30 mark, Huston's voice suffers the most from the hiss. And listening to constant hiss would be a definite distraction.

[RayKelly]

At least you can see the cut scene where Otterlake states that Mavis is “his” in the Neville doc. However, I kind of like how the Murawski cut makes her just a random, naive film student at the party, an object of lecherous power-plays from pretty much every guy there — Jake, Brooksie, Lou Martin, and even Rich Little!

Interesting observation, Nic. I never saw it that way before.

[nickleschichoney]

I should clarify that I like it because it adds to the themes the movie is trying to explore — I don’t particularly enjoy the sight or idea of creepy old men circling around a poor, underaged girl.

[Wich2]

The sequence as it stands is plenty oily, w/o the "his" line hitting the nail hard on the head.

- Craig