Official OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND Thread - All things OSotW he

[Jay]

Watching the segments again, one thing that I think is really going to handicap the film's reception is the sound. Because of the passage of time not much is going to be able to be done in the way of looping or re-recording. Does anyone know if the party scene sound is just a scratch track, or was some dubbing done on it? The screening room scene seems pretty clean and who needs sound in Oja's scene, after all. I actually like the raw location sound in the clips but that might be all that is available to the editors. Not going to be too appealing to a lot of the contemporary audience.

Every film Welles made outside of Hollywood have issues with sound. Some (The Trial) fared better than others (Mr. Arkadin), but they all have audio problems of one sort or another. So this film having problems with sound wouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has viewed Welles' European work.

[etimh]

Every film Welles made outside of Hollywood have issues with sound. Some (The Trial) fared better than others (Mr. Arkadin), but they all have audio problems of one sort or another. So this film having problems with sound wouldn't be a surprise to anyone who has viewed Welles' European work.

Of course, but I'm anticipating the hype that will surround the presentation of the completed film and all of the subsequent scrutiny that the film will get from all quarters. Selling this film to a more mainstream contemporary audience has become a big part of its potential restoration and I imagine that it is not going to be understood in the same way as all of us who have viewed Welles' "European work." Today's audiences are used to complex polished sound design and less informed and less scrutinizing audiences will just likely hear "bad" sound. Unfortunate, but true.

Tim

[Roger Ryan]

I don't think there is a "mainstream" audience for this film. Casual classic film fans will watch KANE, TOUCH OF EVIL and THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (and, maybe, AMBERSONS), but little else in Welles' canon. Those who like THE TRIAL, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and, especially, F FOR FAKE will be the audience for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. As to the sound issue, I was watching Hal Ashby's THE LAST DETAIL last week and the on-location sound recording was, frankly, atrocious. That did nothing to change my opinion that the film is one of the finest efforts made in the 70s. To some extent, compromised sound is a hallmark for films made in the early 70s!

[ToddBaesen]

Clearly, with today's technology, the sound is the last thing anyone should be worried about concerning THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.
It's also quite apparent that the color in the film clips that are available are now quite red. Obviously, if there ever is a
restoration of the film, these things would be very minor problems.

If what Peter Bogdanovich has been saying is true, the negative and all the sound elements are
safely stored in a vault in Paris, so there is no reason why the film can't be edited and shown, except
of course, for the very major reason that at least $4 million is needed before this can happen.

[RayKelly]

In a posting on his Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/An-Adventure-Shared-By-Desperate-Men/151466371589828 author Josh Karp of the forthcoming OSOTW book "An Adventure Shared By Desperate Men" reveals that CBS chairman Les Moonves was an extra in OSOTW! (He learned of this through Joseph McBride).
Mr. Moonves is apparently willing to be interviewed for the book.
CBS Corp. owns Showtime, which has expressed an interest in completing OSOTW.
It would be nice to imagine that OSOTW has friends in high places.

[RayKelly]

Hollywood Prospectus 6/1/12 has a nice piece on Frank Marshall. http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/50495/producer-frank-marshall-talks-about-his-new-doc-lucas-spielberg-and-indiana-joness-rumored-bermuda-triangle-trip
There is a very brief mention of OSOTW:

"Marshall is releasing The Bourne Legacy, his fourth film in the series (and the first starring Jeremy Renner) in August. He’s still working with his old friend Bogdanovich to try to edit Orson Welles’s last film, The Other Side of the Wind. Marshall worked on the set as a production assistant; Bogdanovich, who acted in the movie, has detailed notes on how Welles wanted to edit it. “The negative is in a vault in Paris,” Bogdanovich says, “and the positive is in a vault here in Los Angeles.”

[RayKelly]

Danny Huston has given a pair of French-language print interview about his latest film "Two Jacks." It is the story of a famous filmmaker who returns to Hollywood after a long absence, and his son, who is trying to make his own way in the family business.
Based on some very clumsy translations, I believe Danny Huston has modeled the lead character after Jake Hannaford from OSOTW, adding Oja Kodar had shown him rough footage from the film.

http://www.lapresse.ca/cinema/festivals-de-cinema/festival-des-films-du-monde/201208/27/01-4568421-two-jacks-tolstoi-hollywood-et-les-huston.php

http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/cinema/357808/d-un-huston-a-l-autre

Josh Karp altered me to a trailer for the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwtVEnRMzUM

[Glenn Anders]

Ray: It would seem that multifarious generational morphing will either finally give birth to Orson Welles' THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, or destroy its possibilities.

In the meantime, it's almost like . . . incest!

Danny Huston is already established, through FADE TO BLACK, as a Welles' alter ego. Now we have him joined by Jack Huston, Tony Huston's son, in character rather like the young John Huston -- before he buckled down to becoming a serious writer and director.

I've watched Martin Scorsese's BOARDWALK EMPIRE with a faintly jaundiced eye, and thought Jack Huston's portrayal of the shattered World War I sniper the most interesting development in its ponderous plot.

I wish TWO JACKS success, especially if it sends the editors back to that increasingly legendary Parisian vault where THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND is said to be kept!

Thanks for finding these links for us, Ray.

Glenn

[gazza]

Updates on the current progress of The other side of the wind seemed to have dried up...does anyone know what's happening with it now ? Surely if a lost Dega painting was found and needed to be dusted up and framed then this would be done and shown to the world as a nessessary obligation to the history of art. Same goes for Orsons work. There's enough money in hollywood to cut through legal red tape and restore a great artists possibly last film. C,mon, let all the people who are involved, and some who are not yet involved, get on Orsons "float" and give it a run through town. Don't we all want a 16 year old kid in 2075 say, " i just saw this really old movie from a 100 years ago and it's NOTHING like the movies they make now. I want to make a movie like that. I WANT TO BE A FILM DIRECTOR..."

[Glenn Anders]

Dear gazza: Be assured: If this wonderful film ever emerges in virgin state from the vault where it is hidden, you will know of it here.

Meanwhile, encourage the various talented people working on it, who occasionally drop in here to express similar frustrations.

Glenn Anders

[RayKelly]

@gazza,
Welcome! I moved your TOSOTW post into the Official OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND Thread - All things OSotW here so more OSOTW fans could find it and respond.
The last piece of hard news was reported in this thread five months ago http://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1001&start=30#p19381
In brief, Peter Bogdanovich was asked for a status update by Toro magazine in its April 2012 issue. He replied,
"Everyone always asks that and I wish I had good news. The update is that we got stalled again and now I think we’re going to get unstalled finally. Every week it’s something different."
Asked about a rough cut, he responded, "We’ve looked at the footage and it’s great. I cut two scenes together that hadn’t been finished. There are a few scenes that Orson already cut together and then for the scenes that I cut, he had picked takes but just hadn’t assembled them. So we just used his takes and I could tell what he had in mind. It’s very different than anything else he made and quite strange. I don’t think any of us will know what it is until it’s done. I don’t know when it will come out, but I think one day it will."

Josh Karp is working on what is shaping up to be an exciting book on the making of OSOTW. I interviewed him in October 2011 http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1421. A follow-up report on the book is planned in the weeks ahead.

[Jay]

I wonder if a Kickstarter campaign would be helpful. Bogdanovich would probably have to start it, since he's the one who's overseeing the project. The money raised by it could go toward paying the expenses needed to untangle the rights issues, as well as funding the payoff for whatever cockamamie scene Beatrice cooks up to claim some financial stake in the finished product.

[tonyw]

Due to legal problems and Beatrice any kickstarter campaign would have to rake in millions!

[gazza]

Why dont WE start a campaign ! To show how much we care about getting TOSOTW completed. Maybe call it "Orsons Float"- a list of names submitted to the powers that be, which may have the affect of getting a few stubborn people to understand the wishes of many. Her Father wanted it finished and i'm sure to be appreciated by as many people as possible.
And i'm sure a few heavyweights from the film industry will join in to get this convoy rolling. We all want to see another film with Orson Welles spirit living inside it.

[RayKelly]

Money is not the only problem, and I seriously doubt we have the ability to raises the millions of dollars necessary to complete a motion picture.
Even if the money was raised, who says Oja would be willing to sell her majority share to this new entity? Would the new entity simply hand over millions of dollars to someone they have never met with the hopes she would complete the film to their satisfaction? Should the movie be completed as it was originally planned or made into a documentary? Who has the right to final cut?
The struggles Showtime has faced involved more than just writing a check.