BY LAWRENCE FRENCH
David Thomson mentions the recent conversation I had with him in a San Francisco bookstore�(aboutThe Other Side of the Wind)�in his Nov 7th piece�appearing�in The Guardian. In it, he argues�for�cutting back on the glut of film festivals�so we don’t have to make all those demanding choices about�which movies we�can�now actually see, instead of merely reading about. Since his argument seems to be at the heart of why he doesn’t ever want The Other Side of the Windto�be shown, here are the last two paragraphs of the article, followed by our conversation regardingThe Other Side of the Wind.� Mr. Thomson states that�we should let OSOTW linger a while, and that I am desperate to see it.� Well, he’s quite right. After waiting 30 years, I am a bit desperate to see it completed.� But here’s a final question for Mr. Thomson: Don’t you think waiting 30 years is quite enough lingering?
Our conversation below begins with a brief exchange about who is actually today’s highest paid actress, Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman.
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Let us not see it all
As film festivals grow in number and size, the thrill of discovering a rare gem diminishes
By David Thomson
Tuesday November 7, 2006 – The Guardian
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What has availability done? It has killed a lot of the passion and the fun. If you doubt that, talk to a few people who recall the 60s and 70s and who sometimes passed years of their lives waiting for the chance to see some rare movie. The cinema is founded in desire – and desire does not do well when granted immediate and multiple satisfaction. Now that people can see nearly anything, their eagerness relaxes.
I had a conversation recently with a young film buff who was desperate to see Orson Welles’s The Other Side of the Wind. This is a picture left in the untidiness of Welles’s estate, not quite finished. In the years since, efforts have come close to completing it. I argue that it should be left to linger a while. Let there be some films we are denied. Let desire build. And it is in the same spirit that I urge a moratorium on festivals, a Cromwellian meanness about them. It’s the only way we’ll rediscover the heady fun of Restoration.
DAVID THOMSON: Nicole Kidman�has done a lot for someone her age�� She can command a higher sum of money than any other actress in the world at the moment, and that�s because the people who put that money up believe that she will bring the audience in.�
LAWRENCE FRENCH: That�s not really true. Julia Roberts is certainly getting the most money among actresses for a major studio picture.
DAVID THOMSON: Well, since Julia Roberts has had children she is clearly backing off.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: But my point is who is the highest paid actress? I believe its Julia Roberts.
DAVID THOMSON: No, Nicole gets the most money at the moment.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: I don�t think that�s true.�
DAVID THOMSON: Would you like to quote the facts to prove it?
LAWRENCE FRENCH: Well, I don�t have the contracts� what are your facts?
DAVID THOMSON: 20 million.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: Well, that�s what Julia Roberts is getting.
DAVID THOMSON: No, she got 20 million for a couple of things, but Nicole has now had it for three things.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: Well, I think you�re wrong, but we can�t really prove it, since I don�t have the contracts here. (Nicole Kidman certainly didn’t get $20 million for Fur)�
DAVID THOMSON: Well, if you want to read the book� look, I don�t want to make an enemy of you. I�m prepared to say they are at the same level, but I don�t think there is another actress at that level. And I do think that you are not going to see Julia Roberts that much anymore. When she had her twins she decided to take more of a break, while you are going to see a lot of Nicole Kidman in the next few years.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: In Joseph McBride�s new book, What Ever Happened To Orson Welles? he quoted something from your own book on Welles�that I don�t quite understand. You said, �One day, The Other Side of the Wind may be freed. I hope not. It should stay beyond reach.�
Can you explain why you could possibly think that?
DAVID THOMSON: My feeling about it is this: Nobody needs proof that Orson Welles was our greatest artist in film, in my opinion. I have seen enough of The Other Side of the Wind in fragments, to raise at least the possibility that it may not be as great as some of the things that we do have. I like the notion of it as a dream film, just over the horizon that never really comes into port. So people go on talking about it forevermore. I think that legend may be kinder to Welles, than actually retrieving the film. But I know one day someone is going to find the money and find a way to get it retrieved. But every year the sum of money you need gets greater, and the problems grow bigger. There are countless problems over the ownership of the film�s negative, which for a long time was in Tehran, and I�m not sure, it may still be there. I know a few years ago, the bay area businessman, David Packard, was prepared to put up about $5 million to finish the film and at the last minute it all fell through, so cross your fingers, but don�t hold your breath.
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LAWRENCE FRENCH: Well there is now a deal where it�s very near being finished for an eventual airing on Showtime.
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DAVID THOMSON: Well, I hope you�re right, in one sense. But don�t blame me if you are a bit disappointed.
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LAWRENCE FRENCH: Have you read the script? I think it�s a brilliant script and having seen over an hour of the movie, I think it will be a brilliant movie, especially if it follows the script. �
DAVID THOMSON: Yes, but lousy scripts can make great films, and brilliant scripts can make bad movies. You can�t tell.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: It just seems to me that your statement was anti-Welles, and for me, the film has the potential to be another Welles� masterpiece, so why should we deny the world another possible masterpiece?
DAVID THOMSON: I can�t answer that. I just like the notion of one day thinking I might see that film, but I also have to have the impossibility of ever seeing it. I�m always going to think that.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: So you really do want to see it?
DAVID THOMSON: No, I actually don�t want to see it.
LAWRENCE FRENCH: Well, you answered my question, but now you seem to be contradicting yourself.
DAVID THOMSON:�Let me just finish by saying�because of what I have seen of The Other Side of the Wind, I think it may be a disappointment. But I am in no way anti-Welles. I think he�s a great, great man.