OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND - John Huston on making the film

[ToddBaesen]

-

So Beatrice Welles and Showtime are finally close to making a deal to finish THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND... maybe it's all that money Beatrice is going to get once Daddy's Oscar sells for half a million dollars...

Let's just hope the deal actually happens.

_

Orson Welles' Last Film May Finally Get Play

By Vanessa Sibbald (Zap2it.com)

July 18, 2003

After almost 30 years, Orson Welles fans may finally get a chance to see his last film, the uncompleted "The Other Side of the Wind," starring actor/director John Huston as a film director at the end of his life. The film was also John Huston's last as an actor.

Showtime is "very close" to obtaining the rights to the film, says producer Frank Marshall, who was credited as a line producer on "Wind" during the seven years Welles worked on it (from 1970 to 1976).

"I was the only guy there that was handling the money and telling Orson, 'No,'" he laughs.

If the deal goes through, Peter Bogdanovich -- who plays a role in "Wind" -- would finish the movie, according to Welles' wishes.

"Peter is in the movie and Peter did the book on Orson so Peter really does know what Orson's intentions were," Marshall says.

The producer adds that the reason the film was never completed was not because Welles didn't know what he wanted to do, but rather because he didn't want it to end.

"My theory is that Orson, since this was his last project, he never wanted to finish it because it's really a story about a director that's at the end of his life. It's very interesting I think to draw a corollary between Orson's life and the movie," he explains.

[Harvey Chartrand]

I no longer rise to the bait.
How many times since Welles' death 17 years ago have we read similar announcements, only to have our hopes dashed by some new obstacle?
Next they'll be saying that the restored Ambersons was found perfectly preserved in a Brazilian vault.

[71-1045893605]

Just wait for the bootleg to surface. Then in about two years some Spanish DVD company will put it out.

GA

[ToddBaesen]

-

What a delicious irony...

Orson Welles' Oscar, used as a prop for Jake Hannaford's character during the shooting of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, is given to Gary Graver to keep, apparently as a gift... Years later, Gary Graver is forced to return it to Beatrice Welles, who claims she is the rightful owner... Then, Beatrice, on the brink of bankrupcy, after running up debts by raising cash against the anticipated sale of the same Oscar, must now face the hard facts: She accepts a generous offer from Showtime, that finally enables THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND to be completed and shown...

Of course this last part is far from a done deal, but if Beatrice really is facing bankrupcy - and I imagine she will now have to pay Christie's a substantial buy out fee for her botched attempt to auction the Oscar - then there really may be hope that OSOTW will be finished and shown at long last.



...

[Glenn Anders]

Hiya Fellas: I feel confused, as I have since I came onto Wellesnet. My understanding of Welles' will has been that, basically, he gave rights to anything before he met Oja Kodar to his wife, Paola Mori. She died in a car crash about a year after Welles' death, and Daughter Beatrice inherited CITIZEN KANE, all of his stage, radio and studio work not in Public Domain, OTHELLO and DON QUIXOTE. Oja got everything from Welles later projects that she had a hand in, including THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

You have probably answered this question many times, but how did Beatrice Welles become a player in finishing and securing a release for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND?

Can anyone enlighten me?

Glenn

[Jeff Wilson]

Beatrice inherited OTHELLO. That's it. All the unfinished films went to Oja Kodar. Everything else should have been/is held by the various entities that produced it. Why hasn't she been challenged on her aggressive invasions into deals involving Welles projects? No one really knows, aside from lawyers costing a lot of money, and the other parties not wanting to get into protracted lawsuits that could take years to settle. Welles' works have never been moneymakers to any large degree, and consequently, people are hesistant to incur large legal fees over something that probably won't pay its investment back.

Warner Bros is likely going to pay her off (I would assume) over the KANE and AMBERSONS lawsuit she recently filed because it's simply cheaper than going to court and seeing who wins.

[ToddBaesen]

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Glenn:

More details of the complicated state of the Welles estate are covered in the interview with Welles expert Jonathan Rosenbaum, available right here on Wellesnet!!

However, I'm not sure exactly where you have to go to access it anymore...

[Jeff Wilson]

The Rosenbaum interview is linked in the Feb 25 News entry. I should make things like that more accessible, so thanks for the notice of it.

[ChristopherBanks]

Could someone direct me to an article or thread that mentions Beatrice suing over "Kane" and "Ambersons"?

[Jeff Wilson]

Lawsuit Link

[ToddBaesen]

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While I was re-watching the scene below from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, I was struck by Welles frantic editing style and decided to count the number of cuts in the sequence - the entire scene only lasts (approximately) 2 minutes and 15 seconds, and in a typical movie, with cues for 15 different line reading, you'd think there'd be no more than 20 edits... but Welles has made more cuts than even the shower scene in PSYCHO...

I counted 105 edits, almost one every second...


REPORTER
Mr. Otterlake how do you feel about
the reaction to your last picture?


OTTERLAKE
This is Mr. Hannaford's night, let's
save the questions for him.

REPORTER
You two are very close, aren't you?

JULIETTE RICHE
Of course you're close, you two.
You have to be. You have no choice.

JAKE
Please dear lady-- don't tell us what
you mean by that.


JULIETTE RICHE
Come on Otterlake. Why do you think you
have to be as rude as he is?

OTTERLAKE
As rude as you are-- in print anyway.

JULIETTE RICHE
I liked your last picture. I know that
it was repetitive, but for what it was,
it worked.


OTTERLAKE
Yeah - sure. (to Jake) Well, she wasn't
that kind to me in her review. Not that
you did me too much harm. I mean, how
much harm can you do to the third biggest
grosser in movie history!

JAKE
Did it really make that much?
How marvelous.

JULIETTE RICHE
Yes, did you know that when his own
production company goes public, that
your friend there stands to walk away
with forty million dollars!

OTTERLAKE
Yeah, she's going to keep on writing
that I stole everything from you,
Skipper. I'm never going to walk away
from that.

JAKE
Well it's all right to borrow from each
other. What we must never do is borrow
from ourselves.

Laughter erupts from the entourage of reporters and stooges surrounding Jake, who uses the moment to make his exit.

JAKE
Come on Brooksie...

[Glenn Anders]

Hiya Fellas: You may be interested in this clipping from the Movie Insider Column (Ruthie Stein & Carla Meyer) of the San Francisco CHRONICLE, Sunday, July 27, 2003, Page O-1 (Column 1, bottom of the page):

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Winding up Welles' Work: "The Other Side of the Wind," ORSON WELLES' final, unfinished project, will have a second wind after all. Powerhouse producer FRANK MARSHALL, who worked on "Wind" with the legendary director, has tapped Welles pal and scholar PETER BOGDANOVICH to finish the project, or at least build a documentary around existing footage.

Welles toiled on the film for more than a decade, traversing the talk-show circuit for cash and even enlisting a relative of the shah of Iran to bankroll his vision. "Wind" concerns a brilliant but unbankable director, played by JOHN HUSTON in his last screen appearance. Filming was complete but the picture still unedited when Welles died in 1985.

"My feeling is that this was (Welles') last project, and he didn't really want to finish it," Marshall said. "The movie is about a director at the end of his life, so it's not very hard to draw a corollary between the two."

-----------------

Marshall's memories of participating on the film in Graver's WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES are amusing and affectionate: one more case of Welles discovering talent. I don't know if I agree with him in his assessment of Welles' motivation; our favorite director worked on the project for over a decade while he did other things, hardly the mark of a man who considered himself finished; but Marshall has the power through his Dreamworks connections to see Bogdanovich gets adequate capital.

Let's hope they decide to actually put together a finished film.

Then, indeed, we shall be able to say, at long last: "All's Welles That Ends Welles!"

Regards, as always.

Glenn

[akio]

Marshall's also the producer of Seabiscuit, which is doing good box office. With an insider like Marshall bankrolling it, getting TOSOTW off the ground is more likely now than ever.

[maxrael]

Last night at the Q&A session with Oja Kodar and Stefan Droessler at the National Film Theatre (UK) i was attempting to summon up the courage to ask what the latest news on The Other Side Of The Wind was, when fortunately someone else asked the question before me!

i got the impression Oja couldn't perhaps go into too much detail about the current speculation about the films imminent completion, but she said they definitely have all they need to complete the picture...

She said after Orson died she tried to get the money to complete it from people like Speilberg, Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone etc.
She said Stone viewed the footage and said it was too experimental and wouldn't work... then went on to copy (i assume Natural Born Killers?)
Eastwood, also refused the project. He desperately wanted to see the script which Oja suspects is because he was working on White Hunter, Black Heart and wanted to get inside the head of John Huston more... (apparently he went on to steal the "Of course you are" line....)

But Oja said that's ok because as Jack says in the film:
"Well it's all right to borrow from each other. What we must never do is borrow from ourselves. "

[maxrael]

Oja also mentioned that internet rumours such as the film rights being held by the Shah of Iran hurt her efforts to get the film made. I think she said that it's the brother of the wife of Shah of Iran who has an interest in the film... (he said starting another rumour!) And whilst he's coming to realise that The Other Side Of The Wind won't be a massive grossing picture, they need to ensure that he gets back the money he invested...
She said they need 3 million to complete the picture.