Wellesnet

The year 2025 marked not only the 40th anniversary of the passing of Orson Welles, but the 110th anniversary of his birth.

To mark those milestones, there were Welles exhibitions and screenings in Florence, Rome and most notably Paris.  Regretfully,  Cinémathèque Française was forced to close all four of its Parisian movie theaters in the final weeks of the three-month exhibition after patrons complained of bed bugs. Even more sad was there was no grand events to honor Welles in his own home country.

At the start of the year, prominent bookseller James Pepper donated his impressive collection of Welles-related scripts, correspondence and movie mementos to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The materials are available to the public.

In July, one of the three surviving “Rosebud” sleds from Citizen Kane was sold for a whopping $14.75 million – the most ever paid for a Citizen Kane item at auction. The 84-year-old prop – touted as “The Lost Rosebud Sled” by Heritage Auctions – had been in the hands of director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) for more than 40 years.  While filming Explorers for Paramount Pictures on a section of the former RKO lot in 1984, a crew member clearing storage areas offered Dante an old sled headed for disposal. Recognizing its significance, Dante preserved it as his most treasured item.

Perhaps the most intriguing – and polarizing – Welles-related news item of 2025 was that Fable Studio’s Showrunner will attempt to reshape The Magnificent Ambersons into something more closely resembling Welles’ original vision with the use of artificial intelligence. It has enlisted the help of Ambersons expert Brian Rose, who completed a partially animated version last year.  The project is expected to take two years to complete.

2025 was also an anniversary year for Vienna’s Third Man Museum, a labor of love for enthusiasts Gerhard Strassgschwandtner and Karin Höfler. The museum celebrated its 20th anniversary.  On a related note, The Third Man was released as 4K SteelBook in the U.S. by Lionsgate Limited. Its bonus features were similar to those found on the European set released by StudioCanal Vintage Classics in 2024.

There was a great deal of Welles activity in the world of publishing.  Leur Orson Welles: Grands entretiens (Their Orson Welles: Major Interviews) from Jean-Pierre Berthomé and François Thomas, and the My Name is Orson Welles catalogue from the Cinémathèque française event were released in France. The novel A Duel of Bulls: Hemingway and Welles in Love and War by Pete Carvill was published in England.

Film historian and Welles expert Joseph McBride co-authored his thoughtful memoir I Loved Movies, But… with interviewer Danny Peary. McBride has written extensively about some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, including three volumes dedicated to Welles. He was a participant in some Welles projects, most notably The Other Side of the Wind.

Welles’ loyal cameraman Gary Graver was the focus of the biography “We Must Shoot!” – The Life and Art of Gary Graver by Andrew J. Rausch, Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz. It addressed both Graver’s adult and mainstream work.

Academy Award winning editor Walter Murch, whose film credits include the acclaimed re-edit of Touch of Evil, detailed his craft in Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design.

Two Welles-inspired graphic novels, Giant and Warrior of the Worlds, were released in 2025, and playwright Amy Crider published and licensed Wells and Welles, her play about a meeting of Welles and author H.H. Wells.

Sadly, there were losses to report in 2025, including Welles pal and director Henry Jaglom, The Other Side of the Wind actor Peter Jason,  The Immortal Story star Norman Eshley, The Third Man child actor Herbert Halbik, and former Paramount executive Michael Schlesinger, who championed the documentary It’s All True: Based on an Unfinished Film By Orson Welles.

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