Is Oja Kodar holding up The Other Side of the Wind?

[Wellesnet]

http://www.wellesnet.com/is-oja-kodar-h ... -the-wind/

[Jay]

Ray is correct in his assertion that Oja has been given a pass over the years. For a long time, the "Beatrice = bad/Oja = good" binary seemed the commonly accepted narrative. But now, Beatrice seems to be much more amenable to getting more of her father's work in front of the public, and Oja is seemingly operating from a position of damaging self-absorption.

[Wellesnet]

Hollywood Elsewhere jumps in:
http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2015 ... oja-kodar/

Rymsza also stated that he expects the editing on TOSOTW to begin in September once an addendum to last October’s agreement has been signed by Kodar’s legal rep, Alexander (a.k.a. “Sasha“) Welles, a nephew of Kodar’s whom Welles apparently adopted. Alexander is said to be sailing around the Aegean on a yacht, but is due back in port at the end of the month.

Rymsza stated that “the original negative, of which there is a copy, is packed in Paris and ready for shipment.” He declined to predict how long the project might take once it begins, and he didn’t offer any specific options or possibilities about how to raise the extra dough needed to complete the project, above and beyond the $400K raised so far with an Indiegogo campaign.

Comment by "Mr. Tibbs":
"If someone is now in breach, I will lose it, because I contributed $500 to the Indiegogo campaign."

[Le Chiffre]

Jay wrote: "For a long time, the "Beatrice = bad/Oja = good" binary seemed the commonly accepted narrative. But now, Beatrice seems to be much more amenable to getting more of her father's work in front of the public, and Oja is seemingly operating from a position of damaging self-absorption."

The fact that Beatrice appears to have split from her former legal representative Thomas White would seem to be a huge step in her public rehabilitation. One has to wonder if we would even be talking about a possible Wind completion now if that hadn't happened.

As for Oja, it's frustrating how little info has been forthcoming from her camp. Certainly Josh Karp's book paints a picture of someone who is more about the cash then anything else, but I saw her talk at Woodstock this past May and found her charming and friendly and full of wonderful stories about Welles. One subject appeared to be taboo, however, and that was the TOSOTW completion. Erik Van Beuzekom, who did a wonderful one-man Welles show at Woodstock, drove Oja and Rosenbaum around and obviously overheard some interesting stuff, which he alluded to on Facebook yesterday:

I saw Oja speak in May in Woodstock. I wouldn't be so quick to judge her. There are always many sides to the story... I sat with Jonathan Rosenbaum and her niece before she talked at the festival. It wasn't friendly in regards to how they were being treated...from what I understood they didn't honor their part of the contract.

From this I gather that Oja was not paid as she was supposed to be. But as she continues to be silent on the subject of Wind, that can only be a guess.

Furthermore, the following was posted last month to another Facebook page dedicated to Welles, which is believed to be run by a former high-ranking Wellesnet member:

I'm sorry to say, almost everyone with any kind of real connection to the project to finish THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, feels it is a rip off.
To my mind, Frank Marshall is the the man who is the key rip off artist, of this fiasco. Or should I say, F FOR FAKE.
He hardly knew Orson and suddenly he is going to save the film. Yet somehow Oja, Stefan and others think his plans are simply not feasible...
So please tell us more Mr. Marshall, and by the way, why have you not committed any of your own money to this project. Currently Mr. Marshall is worth over $50 million.

When I asked for a more detailed explanation, and how he knew Marshall hadn't put any of his own money into the project, no response was given.

[mido505]

When I asked for a more detailed explanation, and how he knew Marshall hadn't put any of his own money into the project, no response was given.

Not only was no response given: there has not been a single post at that site since July 4th, when those two strange WIND diatribes went up. Strange, because the proprietor of that site is usually very prolific.

Given the utter contradictory weirdness of this project, I thought I'd toss this out there, courtesy, once again, of Ms. Kodar.

Oja was recently in Brazil for the Welles Centennial, and was her usual charming self. Right on cue she slandered Jeanne Moreau again; but, more importantly, Oja spoke a little bit about TOSOTW. She said this, which is awkwardly translated from the original Portuguese:

Tragically, the film is already completed, or nearly so. 45 minutes have been edited by Orson, and there about 2:15 a.m. material: the rest includes some first cuts, sometimes two shots of the same scene together because Orson had yet to choose. But all is present in sequence. Just choose the shots, put the music and eventually make some second unit images, with people walking, for example. It's something minimal. It breaks my heart

Once again we have mention of the mysterious 3 hour-long rough cut of WIND mentioned by producer Dominique Antoine in Joseph McBride's essential great WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ORSON WELLES. But McBride reported that both Oja and Graver denied the existence of that cut.

Because of that denial, I never put any credence into Antoine's story until, by chance, I ran across this in an interview with Oja's publicist, Jonathan Rosenbaum:

There is also different ideas about how long the film should be. When I first met Oja and Dominique Antoine, the producer on the film, after Welles died, they both told me they had a 2 hour and 30 minute workprint, and that the film was originally expected to run nearly 3 hours. Now Oja maintains that's not true, but Dominique Antoine still maintains that's true.

So it seems that Oja confirmed, then denied, the existence of that work print.

Now, in 2015, she's confirming again.

It's obvious from what Oja says that the film is far from finished. 40-45 minutes are completely edited, while the rest is in a condition similar to that of the so-called Cinematheque work print of DON QUIXOTE: multiple takes, leader, roughed out sequences, etc. But Oja seems clear that the sequences are in order, and all one need do is choose the takes, tighten the editing, film a few pick ups, add music, and go. As she says, "It's something minimal."

Minimal? Really? What's going on here?

[Le Chiffre]

We've received almost no info on that Rio Welles fest, and I can't find anything online. Is it still going on? It would be nice to have a recording of Oja's statement down there if any recording was made. Apparently she said a lot more about Wind down there then she did in Michigan or Woodstock. If so, I wonder why?

[mido505]

Here is a link to the interview: http://www.adorocinema.com/noticias/filmes/noticia-113308/

Best to view it through Chrome and have Google translate.

[RayKelly]

Thanks Mido
The conference took place April 9-19. This article is dated May 13 and refers to the crowdfunding effort, which was not announced until May 7. The Adoro Cinema comment via Google Translate:

But it seems that The Other Side of the Wind will be completed now, with the help of crowdfunding via the Internet.

Tragically, the film is already completed, or nearly so. 45 minutes have been edited by Orson, and there is about 2 hours and 15 minutes of material: the rest includes some first cuts, sometimes two shots of the same scene together because Orson had yet to choose. But all is present in sequence. Just choose the shots, put the music and eventually make some second unit images, with people walking, for example. It's something minimal. It breaks my heart.

I do not know anything about crowdfunding, it is somewhat vague. I do not want to say anything about it for now - not by superstition, or something, but because I'm trying to finish this film for over 30 years, and lost hopes. What comes, comes.

[Le Chiffre]

Rosebud actor Erik Van Beuzekom, writing on his blog in defense of Oja Kodar:
https://erikvanbeuzekom.wordpress.com/2 ... enanigans/

Biljana, her niece, came down to talk. Immediately there was an air of tension and unease. Biljana stated that under no uncertain terms that Frank Marshalls crew going to shoot the interview that was scheduled for the next evening. She then relayed that they were scheduled to pay Oja since the previous October and had reneged every single time. Biljana and relatives even flew to LA to receive payment only to wait at a hotel and never receive payment. So obviously by the time of the festival tension had already digressed into mistrust and estranged encampments. Michael Dawson was left to make a last minute phone call to LA to tell the Marshall Film Crew to stand down. Biljana said there was an ongoing expectation of payment that never had materialized and the trip to LA had completely eroded the trust. I brought Jonathan [Rosenbaum] to his hotel and he was even a bit frustrated that Oja had circled the wagons as much as she did. But for me who is a newcomer to these conversations, my jaw was on the floor with these revelations. Sad but all completely believable. At no time did I think that Biljana was exaggerating or misstating what had gone on. I was unfamiliar with the exact figure but assumed it was large.

The next day May 9th, the day of the Oja Interview I talked to Michael Dawson about his call to LA. He was very stressed because he wished to keep Ojas camp happy but had to tell the Marshall crew that if they showed it would jeopardize the event. He shook his head in amazement at what was excitement only a few days before into a full blown uncomfortable argument..

I hope this doesn't wind up in court, but it's starting to look like that's where it's headed.

[Le Chiffre]

Comments from the Hollywood Elsewhere article:

Jonathan Rosenbaum:
So many assumptions, so few facts. Based on the little I know, the only statement cited here that I can begin to subscribe to is Filip Jan Rynsza’s.

Michael Hinerman:
Mr. Rosenbaum, with all due respect, given that you confess that you "know little", how do you know what is fact in this piece and what is assumption? Is it your leg? Intuition? Also, in your recent Italian interview, you stated that "there is also a problem of contracts that should be negotiated again." That's a pretty knowledgeable statement. Care to clarify?

JR:
Oja told me in May that she's been paid nothing so far, which violated the terms of her contract (which I believe promised her payment late last year), thus suggesting that her contract needed to be renegotiated. This is the little that I know.

MH:
Thank you. I appreciate your sharing this information, which mirrors what Erik Van Beuzekom posted on his blog. We deserve to hear all sides. Nearly 3000 of us donated over $400,000 to the TOSOTW project, making us stakeholders. Despite the huge reservoir of good will Ms. Kodar possesses, her reticence on this particular issue, her clear lack of enthusiasm for the project as a whole, her documented history of broken negotiations, and rumors of negative comments have not stood her in good stead with the fan base, putting her in a bad light when this unfortunate news broke. Whatever the truth behind the scenes, let's hope for a speedy resolution to the conflict.

JR:
You have to understand that Oja has been emotionally traumatized by decades of labor, effort, and negotiations. What you describe as her "reticence" could be read--and in fact IS read by me--as a simple aversion for the world of show-biz and the media, including the Internet and email (she has no use for either). Believe me, she would love to see the film completed, and anyone who knows her is acutely aware of this. The fact that she's blamed for what's happening (or, rather, not happening), whereas someone like Frank Marshall--who could pay for the film's completion in a second but is interested only in acquiring a percentage of the film's future profits--gets a free pass from everyone, is a reflection of the kind of climate Oja can't be blamed for wanting to avoid.

MH:
Again, with all due respect, Frank Marshall's purported wealth is a red herring. I'm sorry to say that I expect better from a man of your stature. Contracts have been signed. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the Boushehri interest. Beatrice Welles, who can be contentious when roused, has been positively enthusiastic, avidly stumping for the project despite ill health. Why does it always seem to boil down to Ms. Kodar? Are you trying to say that she is being singled out for ill treatment?

JR:
I'm not trying to say it--I'm saying it....If Frank Marshall isn't a multimillionaire, I apologize for my misperception.

MH:
Again, thank you for your frankness. Do you have any theory as to why Marshall and Co. would single-out Ms. Kodar for ill-treatment? That seems a rather irrational approach, given the circumstances.

Johnny Hillan:
I would love to understand the logic behind Frank Marshall's choice to - as is suggested - single out Ms. Kodar for bad treatment. I'd also be interested in an explanation as to why (or on what planet) Mr. Marshall (who indeed does have a great deal of money) would be scrounging for his share of the profits on an art house film whose ticket sales may well not exceed Vincent D'Onofrio's salary for Jurassic World?

MH:
Exactly, Mr. Hillan. Has Ms. Kodar decided that TOSOTW is going to be another JURASSIC WORLD and that, while she is fobbed off with a measly seven figures, Frank Marshall and company stand to rake in the big bucks? Of course, if that is the case, it stands to reason that Mr. Marshall would want to pay Ms. Kodar promptly, so that he can get cracking.

JH:
Mr. Hinerman, now that we've established a potential motive (imagine the merchandising rights to the John Huston action figures) I am left wondering whether Ms. Kodar's very serious allegation that she hasn't been paid under the terms of her contract is a fact or merely a claim she made to Mr. Rosenbaum?

MH:
This allegation seems to have been dropped by Ms. Kodar and/or her niece at the Woodstock Festival in May. I must say I find Mr. Marshall's strategy to take over the film remarkably subtle: don't make the payment that will enable you to take over the film. Also, single out for abuse and financial malfeasance the co-writer, co-director, and star of the film, while making nice with the wife of the original investor and with the director's daughter. Of course, the Machiavellian ways of Hollywood are beyond me.

JH:
Mr. H, I agree, the complexity of this scam exceeds my clearly underdeveloped understanding how Hollywood works and how men like Mr. Marshall become multi-millionaires. I had assumed for so long that it was by making blockbuster films, but there must be some quirk in the economics of filmmaking by which the kind of devious chicanery being alleged here must be vastly more lucrative. Apparently one is never too old to learn.

It’s risky to speculate too much about this latest mess, since many of the facts are still hidden, and even Jonathan Rosenbaum admits that he doesn’t have all them either. However, more and more keep coming out into the open slowly but surely, and from the facts that we have, it’s not too difficult to infer certain things.

What’s seems pretty clearly established is that Oja has not been paid. The question is: why not? There are three scenarios that come to mind:

One is that Filip Rymzsa and co. are a bunch of meanies who have not fulfilled their part of the contract because they are out to take advantage of Oja or try and bully or trick her into giving up the film for free, or give it up, and then maybe they’ll pay her. Or to just not pay her and expect her to give it up anyway.

Another is that Rymzsa had every intention to pay Oja, but couldn’t find the money, hence the indiegogo campaign.

The other scenario is that she has not yet fulfilled a required contractual obligation (unknown to us), and therefore, that is why she has not yet been paid.

Given the fact that Rymza and his team have spent five years ironing out the enormously complicated legal rights to this film, only the second and third scenarios sound plausible.

Here's another exchange from Facebook this weekend:

Scott Kingsworth:
I went to see the "Unfinished Works of Orson Welles" at the BFI in London. Stefan Droessler claimed that there was "no chance" of The Other Side Of The Wind being finished.

Wellesnet: What did he base that on?

SK: Legal issues, aparently...which he doesn't think can be resolved. As you reported the other week, he said that the negs are still in a vault in Paris.

[Le Chiffre]

Here's another take on Stefan Drosler's BFI trashing of the effort to complete Wind, courtesy of David Paul Nixon, who was there:

During a recent presentation at the British Film Institute Stefan Droessler gave a brief update, as well as his views, on the current status of The Other Side of the Wind.

The BFI is currently concluding its two-month Welles centenary celebration. Stefan has been presenting a series of talks and screenings based around rarities from the Munich Film Museum’s Welles Collection. His August 21st presentation was based around Welles’ unfinished works.

Before screening scenes from The Other Side of the Wind, Stefan spoke with great scepticism of the latest effort to bring the film to screen. He was critical of the film’s new producers lack of experience and their frequent claims of progress and proposed deadlines for completion.

He confirmed that the negative is still in Paris and editing has not yet begun. He also stated his opinion that any claim that the film could be finished by January next year was ‘ridiculous’.

Besides the legal and rights issues, he illustrated the inherent problems of completing the film, one which was always intended to evolve throughout its production and editing.

Within the existing film materials includes over 40-minutes of footage that features directors Paul Mazursky and Henry Jaglom in conversation, unrehearsed. In the current shooting script there is no indication of how this material was intended to be used.

How would anyone involved with the project make a decision as to how to include this footage? And how would they hope to successfully integrate it into a film with such a complex editing concept, while staying faithful to Welles’ vision?

He also spoke briefly of Jaglom’s book, My Lunches with Orson, and his view that Welles did not know that Jaglom was taping their conversations. He spoke of a great falling out between the two only shortly before Welles died because of Orson’s discovery that Jaglom was recording their meetings.

It was perhaps a harsh judgement on Rymsza, Kaul and Marshall. After all, it takes passion, enthusiasm and determination to take on a project as complex as The Other of the Wind. But then again, someone as dedicated as Stefan obviously takes very personally the need to do justice to Welles’ work.

[RayKelly]

Thanks David for the report from BFI.
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the work Stefan has done, but he has never been a fan of The Other Side of the Wind.
I don't share his view that Frank Marshall does not have the chops to oversee this. Marshall is familiar with the film and has a successful career.
And I don't blame the producers for the negative still sitting in Paris.

[Le Chiffre]

I agree with you, Ray. I find Stefan Droessler's attitude to be very curious. Marshall, Rymzsa and the rest have been making a valiant attempt to finish this film. Doesn't he want to see the film get completed? After all, this is Orson Welles's last movie! What does he think should be done with the footage? Continue to let it rot in a vault?

[RayKelly]

Stefan is consistent in his opinion of TOSOTW. He made it very clear at a presentation at Harvard in 2008 that TOSOTW was not on his Top 10 list.
From a piece I wrote back then:

(Drossler) said he saw the two hour rough cut prepared by Gary Graver and he felt it was “horrible.” He thinks that, “to complete the Other Side of the Wind is maybe not the best idea.” He added, “When you see the rapid editing style for two hours, it is hard to stand.” Further, the film-within-a-film footage has no storyline and even (Oja) Kodar could not explain it to him. Drossler says that, in his opinion, many of the people associated with the film have exaggerated their importance, whether it was their hands on involvement in the making of the movie or claiming Welles entrusted them with the completion of the film.

I have seen extended sequences of the film and I did not have the same reaction.
And even if the rough cut prepared by Graver and Frank Mazzola was horrible, that has no bearing on what Frank Marshall and Affonso Goncalves will produce.
Again, even though I disagree with Stefan's opinion of TOSOTW, I have tremendous respect for the work he has done.

[Le Chiffre]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Oja have a significant hand in that Graver/Mazzolla cut as well?

Maybe it is horrible. Maybe a Marshall/Rymzsa cut will be horrible too. Maybe they should make a documentary instead. At this point I really don't care what they do with the footage, just as long as they do SOMETHING with it.

Jess Franco's "Don Quixote di Orson Welles" is horrible to a large extent, and yet I don't care. Parts of it are actually quite enjoyable and I'm very grateful to have it. It's also probably the only Welles Quixote that most average Welles fans like me are ever likely to see.

Whatever they can produce for Wind I'll be grateful to have, but I'll be pissed if they come up with nothing and the negative remains in the vault. Some of these Welles scholars like Droessler worry about Welles's "legacy". Well, to me, Welles's legacy as it stands now consists of a far too long list of unseen and unfinished works. They have the opportunity to scratch one of those off the list, and that effort deserves encouragement, not scorn.