Peter Bogdanovich as Brooks Otterlake and John Huston as Jake Hannaford in a scene from “The Other Side of the Wind.”
Updated on May 1, 2015: Speaking at Indiana University tonight, producer Filip Jan Rymsza was asked by Joseph McBride about the report on Wellesnet. Rymsza confirmed the accuracy of Jens Koethner Kaul’s comments. He said the potential distributors want to see footage from the negative, and not the battered work print. Producers became aware of the situation in December and it had been an internal matter before Kaul’s remarks. Read more about the Indiana panel at
wellesnet.com/the-other-side-of-the-wind-what-we-learned-at-indiana-university
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By RAY KELLY
Six months after producers announced they would complete Orson Welles’ unfinished The Other Side of the Wind in time for the 100th anniversary of his birth in May, they have been stymied by distributors unwilling to finance the project without first seeing edited footage.
In a cinematic conundrum, producers Filip Jan Rymsza, Frank Marshall and Jens Koethner Kaul need money to edit the negative, which has been stored in a Paris vault. But those with the money want to first see edited footage before committing funds.
Kaul made the revelation in an essay written for Kino Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland. He is slated to speak there on May 9.
“The undamaged negative was recovered from a vault sealed by numerous court decisions,” said Kaul in a translation of remarks made in German to Kino Kunstmuseum. “Even if we comply with the provisions for completion in Orson Welles’ will, doubts remain with the distributors, who are cautious about paying for completion. ”
“With all due encouragement, they understandably want to check a finished product,” Kaul stated.
He added, “So, during this 100th year of Orson Welles, it’s still a ways to go before we can see his last masterpiece together, hopefully.”
Kaul, Rymsza and Marshall secured the partial ownership rights held by the Paris film company Les Films de l’Astrophore and the late Mehdi Boushehri, brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran. Agreements were also reached with Welles’ youngest daughter, Beatrice, who heads the Estate of Orson Welles, and his longtime companion Oja Kodar, who inherited the late director’s ownership.
Leaked Sony Entertainment emails have revealed that the producers began shopping for a distributor as early as July 2014. Distributors were also courted at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, Calif. four months later.
At the Sedona International Film Festival in February, Rymsza detailed the process of sorting through the 18 or 19 hours of negative footage in Paris. He described the creation and following of a blueprint, using five linear feet of scripts and treatments – “a huge amount of information and that’s the first stage to just create a work flow for ourselves.”
Rymsza will be discussing The Other Side of the Wind at upcoming panel discussions at Indiana University and Woodstock, Illinois.
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