BRIGHT LIGHTS 55 TOSTW Interview

[tonyw]

:D This interview features Bogdanovich and Mc Bride and mentions the possibility of the ultimate appearance of the complete work in two years time.

[RayKelly]

Bright Lights 55

Selection:
[To Bogdanovich] I first interviewed to you about The Other Side of the Wind back in 1997, when there had been a real effort to get the film finally finished and released, probably via the Showtime channel, but those plans stalled. Recently the rumours have been that the Showtime deal has been reactivated. What is your understanding of the current state of play?

Bogdanovich: Well, a major American cable company has been negotiating with the parties involved, which involves Orson's estate, Oja Kodar, and the Iranian Medhi Boushehri, who invested some money into the picture. I don't want to say which network, but it's been going on for six years now, the negotiation, and I would say we're one signature away from it becoming a reality. Orson, at one point in 1971 or '72, said to me that if anything happened to him before the film was finished, that he wanted me to finish it. I said, “It's not gonna happen, Orson, why’d you even bring it up.” He said, “I'm very Anglo-Saxon that way, I don't mind talking about death. If anything did happen, I'd want you to finish it. Do you promise?” And I said yes. So, ever since he died, in '85, I have tried to figure out ways to do it. And that has been a heavy burden. It's very frustrating, because virtually all of it is shot and about 40 minutes has been cut by Orson. The rest is in vaults, in daily forms. There's notes on a lot of stuff, there's a screenplay, and it's gonna require quite a bit of work to get it done, mostly editing, but luckily now we have computer editing, which makes things a lot easier. Orson would have loved that — he'd have loved to have lived to see computer editing, it moves things much faster, you can try stuff far more quickly than you could years ago.

So you’re confident it will be seen?

Bogdanovich: Quite. I'm confident it will be seen within the next two years. Of course, I've been thrown a lot of curveballs, and so was Orson. This is nothing if not a circuitous tale of woe, but it seems to me that it should be seen, and I think it will be seen. It will never be seen quite exactly the way Orson would have wanted it — because that's impossible, that died with him. But all we can do is try to put the footage that he shot together the best we can based on his notes and scripts, and the memories of those people who were there when he made it, and based on the template of the sequences that he left behind that he's fine-cut himself.

[Glenn Anders]

Thank you Tony and Ray.

The complete review is both beautiful and brilliant (overused words but apt here). The more one reads about THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, the more contradictory both its potential and its future seem. Some say it is a masterpiece in the making; others think the film a befuddling mess.

I sometimes think that I have read or seen almost every thing there is about the film and its production, but in Damien Love's interview with Bogdanovich and McBride, there are anecdotes and suggestions new to me, at least.

The absolute confidence with which people who have worked on the picture speak makes me believe that we shall eventially discover which view of its worth is correct.

Glenn

[rizibo]

Footnote #6 appears encouraging: At the time of writing, early October 2006, Peter Bogdanovich, who remains involved in trying to have the film completed, reports that “Things are now moving along very well with The Other Side of the Wind, and there should be an announcement within the next 2-3 months.”

[Terry]

It's now the fourth month. Maybe someone here could contact Peter and get an update.

[rizibo]

So you’re confident it will be seen?

Bogdanovich: Quite. I'm confident it will be seen within the next two years.

Why should the release take two years? It shouldn't take that long to edit the film. Maybe they will need more time to go through all the notes Welles left behind to edit the film according to his wishes but it still seems like an abnormally prolonged period of time.

[Glenn Anders]

My guess is that 1) the editing will be complicated and lengthy; 2) even after the multiple parties agree, it will take time to bring the contracts together; and 3) if the plan includes a theatrical release and a cable showing, that will require scheduling satisfactory to both mediums.

I think Bogdanovich is simply giving the process wiggle time. After all, he has been through parts of all this a couple of times before.

Glenn

[Terry]

Is it true that PB, OK and BWS are demanding one million dollars each as a producer's fee? No wonder the anonymous cable network hasn't bitten. Anyone else sense personal greed eclipsing these parties' devotion to Orson and desire to make the necessary sacrifices to see his work completed? That much greed is enough to kill the project, thank you all concerned.

[Kevin Loy]

Well, in Bogdanovich's case, he does at least have a valid claim, as he gave Welles money for the film (I think somebody on the board recently mentioned $200,000...a rough inflation adjustment, off the top of my head, would come out to around $800,000 nowadays). And it would be wise for him to ask for it up-front, since Welles' films have always been shaky commercial prospects (at best). As for BWS, the only reason that I can see anybody paying her money is to get her to shut the hell up and go away (no, wait, she needs the money for her animal shelter, I keep forgetting...not to sound insensitive or anything, but does she think that people gave her father money just because of who he was? I mean, he did have to do something for it). Not that Oja is really much better in this case: really, did she put her own money into the film like Bogdanovich did? Did she give Welles a place to live like Bogdanovich did? Has she done anything substantial in the past 40 years?

You're right, Hadji, there is a lot of greed involved with this...and the funny thing is, there's greed over something that isn't even guaranteed to recoup its costs!

[Glenn Anders]

My continued guess is that, given the passage of twenty years, the survivors are in various states of financial hope. After all, for most of these people, even if they profited from an association with Orson Welles, have increased tax, health, and cost of living expenses which might substantially benefit from a settlement of this matter.

Only greed on the part of one or more of them prevents all of us from sharing the artistic end of the affair.

What a number of them appear not to realize is that the census of people, worldwide, who care if THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND is ever released is dwindling. The principals would do well to go with the talent, the idealism, and the finances available.

Personally, I would not want some sterile piece of TV journalism, an NBC Dateline, to be the end result of Welles' last great cinematic project.

Let's hope the survivors get it all together for themselves and for the rest of us in that puny group known as mankind.

Glenn

[rizibo]

Bogdanovich says they are one signature away from it being a reality. So lets not give up hope.

[Kevin Loy]

I'm sure I can guess who isn't agreeing to the terms of the contract...

With that aside, I would love to see the film released. And I certainly hope *something* positive happens with it soon, since Bogdanovich and the others aren't going to live forever (well, at least not in a literal sense).

From reading the footnotes for the interview, though, Astrophore really screwed Welles. True, they didn't have to give him the extra $250,000...but 80% ownership and denial of the final cut when Welles financed nearly half of it himself? Mind you, I know he was probably desperate to get the film finished, but that's a pretty raw deal...and certainly not one of Welles' smarter business decisions.

[chipm]

This is great news. Edited together or just strung together rough, I would kill to see this footage.

Chip

[rizibo]

Astrophore really screwed Welles.

I agree. The Iranian film company Astrophore should have been called Catastorphe. However foolish the deal was, it shows that Welles didn't care about the money. I remember listening to the audio book of This is Orson Welles in which Welles tells Bogdanovich for the first time that he was going to make The Other Side of the Wind. Welles says passionately that he wants to make the film because Bogdanovich told him that older directors like John Ford and Griffith are refused by studios to direct movies in their old age. Welles becomes incensed by this. Welles then gives his arguement that old orchestra conductors made their best work in their 80's and 90's and that genius in the old age should be given the capacity to function. He then describes some of the scenes in the movie and you can hear the excitement and passion in his voice. I think he then says that it's the best movie he can make. He never says that the movie will make tons of money. His focus was to make the best movie he can make.

If Beatrice Welles is the last person needed to sign the papers to release this film, then she should listen to the audio book of This is Orson Welles where he talks about The Other Side of the Wind and hear her father's passion to make this film and try to help her father finish this film.

[Roger Ryan]

If Beatrice Welles is the last person needed to sign the papers...

I'm not certain that's the signature Bogdanovich was talking about. After reading McBride's take on the situation in his new book, I believe getting the contracts signed is only the first of many hurdles (mostly creative) in getting the film in releasable form. I'm still crossing my fingers.