By RAY KELLY
The assistant director of the infamous Paul Masson commercial outtakes that show a seemingly drunken Orson Welles wants to set the record straight about the shoot and the famed actor-director’s condition.
Veteran British commercial producer and director Peter Shillingford reached out to Wellesnet to say that Welles was not drunk during the shoot, rather he was feeling the effects of a sleeping pill taken after an all-night shoot. He says his account, originally reported accurately by Brian VanHooker, has since been repeated and mischaracterized by other journalists.
“He was not drunk… if you spend a day wired from filming 12 hours, then take a pill it ain’t gonna work… till later!,” Shillingford said.
Welles shot eight Paul Masson wine commercials between between 1978 and 1981, always proclaiming “Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time.” He was credited with boosting sales for the California winery by 30 percent.
On the day of the infamous “French champagne” shoot at a Los Angeles mansion, Welles’ limousine arrived late.
Welles was mumbling. He explained to Shillingford had been in Las Vegas the previous night filming and camera problems delayed work until dawn. He had taken a sleeping pill when he left Las Vegas to sleep during the limousine ride, but it had only just begun kicking in.
“I am completely scrambled,” Welles told Shillimgford. “What do you suggest?”
Welles attempted three takes to poor results and the dismay of the ad agency reps. (The embarrassing footage, originally passed around for years on VHS tapes, has since gone viral and inspired numerous “Ah, the French” memes.)
Shillingford arranged for Welles to nap in one of the mansion bedrooms for a few hours in hopes of salvaging the shoot.
Awakened and his clothes freshened, Welles completed the shoot.
“Within the hour we have the commercial in the can,” Shillingford said. “I call it a wrap and the guests applaud the great man.”
On the way back to the limousine, Welles thanked Shillingford: “Lunch tomorrow… Ma Maison! One o’clock?’
“How could I refuse?,” Shillingford added.
Shillingford described working with Welles during those commercial shoots as a “delight.”
“I had the pleasure of sitting with him on many lunch breaks and listening to his stories of Hollywood in the 30s through to the 80s.”
Welles and Shillingford’s paths crossed again after the Paul Masson commercials.
Shillingford was a line producer on the 1982 documentary Genocide, which featured narration by Elizabeth Taylor and Welles.
“Orson did V/O [voice over] for Genocide and refused payment,” Shillingford recalled.
Shillingford’s other extensive film credits include A Tribute to Dylan Thomas with Richard Burton (1961), The Making of Star Wars (1977), and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991).
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The finished TV commercial for Paul Masson’s champagne:
The three aborted takes:
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