By RAY KELLY
Footage Orson Welles shot of Dennis Hopper five decades ago was earmarked for more than just a cameo in The Other Side of the Wind — it was also intended for a planned documentary on the Easy Rider filmmaker, who Welles had befriended.
Producer Filip Jan Rymsza and editor Bob Murawski uncovered the more than five hours of interview footage – two cameras capturing a two and a half hour talk – during the completion of The Other Side of the Wind for Netflix. They have assembled it into Hopper / Welles, a 130-minute documentary that will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival next month.
Since Hopper / Welles was announced, fans have likely wondered why the legendary filmmaker would have shot so much footage for just a brief cameo. However, his youngest daughter, Beatrice Welles, has shed light on the November 1970 shoot in an interview with Wellesnet.
“One of the main reasons he asked Dennis to be in Wind, was so that he could make a documentary about him — he took advantage of Dennis Hopper being on location with him,” she said. “Anyone who really knew my father knew he did this type of thing. He was so used to not having money to make anything. When he did and there was an opportunity to create something else he did! It was endless! For example, while filming Chimes at Midnight in Casa Del Campo he would see a shot that was good for Don Quixote and shoot it!”
She added, “My father was very intrigued by Dennis. He started talking about him in London in ‘69. They later became friends.”
Welles had offered advice to Hopper on the editing of his breakthrough movie Easy Rider. Hopper viewed the older director as a kindred spirit, once saying, “If people want to talk renegade filmmakers, you shouldn’t look to the 1960s. You should look to 1940 and George Orson Welles.”
Neither Welles nor Hopper spoke publicly of the planned documentary during their lifetimes.
“Dennis talked to me about the documentary when we became friends,” Beatrice Welles said. “Dennis told me how in awe he had always been about my father and his work – but after he got to know him, he admired him as a man for his convictions and his wit.”
In 1992, Hopper traveled with Beatrice Welles and others to Morocco at the invitation of King Hassan II for a week-long celebration of Welles and the re-release of Othello.
“He came to Morocco with us and I got to know him well there,” she said. “Then, we kept in touch in the U.S. We used to have lunch sometimes when I would fly frequently to LA. He was a really nice guy.”
Hopper died in 2010 at the age of 74 after a battle with cancer.
He never got to see the completed The Other Side of the Wind, which was released in 2018.
The overwhelming majority of the two-camera, black and white footage by Gary Graver — lit only by hurricane lamps and the glow of a fireplace — has never been publicly seen before. It was among the 1,083 reels of The Other Side of the Wind footage that was inventoried and scanned by producers Rymsza and Frank Marshall in 2017.
Brief snippets from the November 1970 shoot with Hopper can be seen in The Other Side of the Wind and the Morgan Neville documentary They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.
Beatrice Welles said she is thrilled that the footage will be shown in Venice and that her father’s interview with Hopper can be appreciated by fans of both maverick moviemakers.
The 77th Venice International Film Festival will take place September 2-12, but with a reduced lineup, becoming the first major film festival not to be canceled or delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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