Peter Bogdanovich, Joseph McBride and Henry Jaglom – participants in Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind – discussed the current delay in completing the unfinished film at a talk at Chapman University in Orange, California on September 11.
The celebrated panel also included filmmakers Julia and Clara Kuperberg (This is Orson Welles) and screenwriter-author F. X. Feeney (Orson Welles: Power, Heart and Soul). Actor Peter Jason, slated to attend, was a no-show because of commitment. Harry Ufland, former Hollywood agent and now a Chapman faculty member, hosted the evening, which included a screening of This Is Orson Welles. A large student audience seemed captivated by the film and discussion, which ran considerably longer than had been planned.
The early part of the night consisted of warm reminiscences by Bogdanovich and Jaglom, according to Wellesnetters in attendance. Some rivalry between the two Welles disciples was evident as they jousted for attention and recalled their time as young movie-makers who counted Welles among their close friends.
The Other Side of the Wind’s fate was fodder for serious discussion among the experts.
Last fall, producers struck a deal with all of the rights holders to complete the film. However, the negative still remains in a Paris vault as they attempt to reach a revised agreement with Oja Kodar, who has not released the negative despite an earlier agreement.
Kodar and her nephew, who handles some of her legal affairs, were recently vacationing and have yet to ink the deal, though it could still happen, McBride said. Noting Kodar’s friendship with Welles scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum, he said he had no idea what advice Rosenbaum has been giving Kodar and her nephew recently and slyly referred to him as “their Rasputin.”
Bogdanovich, who plays a key role in editing the footage, did not dispute that Kodar has been holding up The Other Side of the Wind‘s completion for a long time. He said she stands to receive $1.4 million if she signs the present agreement. (Editor’s note: Previous reports pegged her payday at $1 million).
McBride, who, along with The Other Side of the Wind cinematographer Gary Graver, brokered an ill-fated deal with Showtime in 1999, noted that the $1 million Kodar would have gotten back then was the equivalent of $1.4 million today.
The respected film historian was ousted from the Showtime project by Kodar and Bogdanovich 16 years ago, but apparently harbors no ill feelings. He told Bogdanovich he had to thank him twice – once for getting him into the movie and again for helping him get out because of the nightmare it has become.
The delay in finishing The Other Side of the Wind was the subject of conjecture with some panelists citing Wellesnet’s report on Kodar holding up the completion.
More than one panelist speculated the rights to the unfinished film are a source of power Kodar is unwilling to relinquish, while Bogdanovich theorized there could be “psychological” issues at play, such as unwillingness to let go.
Jaglom recounted how he, Kodar and Welles had traveled to Paris in 1983 and lied to a French court about a fictitious corporation Welles and Jaglom had formed, WelJag, which had the resources to complete and acquire The Other Side of the Wind footage. Upon returning to America, they discovered “problems had taken place,” which he blamed on remarks made by Kodar after the court proceedings though he was unable to fully explain her role.
Jaglom asked Bogdanovich, who said he will supervise editing on the film, whether The Other Side of the Wind could be assembled in Welles’ absence. Bogdanovich responded that while it would not be exactly what Welles would have done, he was confident it can be finished in a way that is “close” to what Welles intended. He recalled that a few years ago he edited a couple of scenes for Showtime and found it easy to follow the style Welles had established in the 41 minutes he had cut so well. Bogdanovich added that no one has yet to see all of the 19 hours of footage Welles shot.
There was some discussion of the film-within-the-film sequences with McBride and others commenting on Kodar’s attachment to those scenes. Bogdanovich said he thinks they should be edited tightly since they are mostly long shots and can become tedious if they play too long. Others commented that Welles was satirizing pretentious art films, especially those of Michelangelo Antonioni, and that if the scenes play too long, they run the risk of becoming what they are trying to satirize. McBride noted that this issue will likely be a bone of contention in the editing process.
Despite the most recent delay, Bogdanovich told the Chapman University crowd he is still optimistic The Other Side of the Wind will be completed. He said that despite what has happened to him in his life, he always is optimistic.
Other memorable moments during the evening included talk of a proposed hunt for the lost footage from The Magnificent Ambersons and a spirited discussion on whether Welles was a victim of the Hollywood Blacklist in the late 1940s.
Feeney argued Welles was blacklisted, while Jaglom was insistent Welles had told him unambiguously he never signed a confessional letter and was not blacklisted. No such letter has ever materialized, but McBride said it would have been impossible for Welles to have gotten any work unless he had signed one.
Partial transcript at https://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2577&p=22372#p22368
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