The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

For many on this Forum, including me, the event of the year, in time hopefully for Orson Welles' 100th birthday. I certainly hope it also has a premiere spot at the Cannes Film Festival soon after.


Here's how it was announced, from the original article in the New York Times:


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/movies/hollywood-ending-near-for-orson-welles-last-film.html?_r=0

New York Times story today on the Indiegogo campaign for this film:


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/business/media/producers-turn-to-indiegogo-to-finance-orson-welless-final-film.html?ref=todayspaper

I am certainly going to contribute -- once on behalf of our Sons of the Desert tent here (Stan and Oliver were friends of Orson Welles and there is a famous behind the scenes still of the guys and Orson playing musical instruments on the set of one of their 20th Century Fox movies "Jitterbugs", he may have been on the lot filming "Jane Eyre" I think), the second contribution will be on behalf of the local pub and one of the regulars who passed away a couple of years ago who was the #1 Orson Welles fan and probably would be sleeping in the park because of all the money he would have sent through for this campaign (if he was around)


I look forward to one days sitting through this movie and playing it for someone who hasn't seen it and remark, casually "Yes....you know, I had money in this picture?" I wish I had a dollar for everytime I ever heard that line in movies and tv shows over the years -- only this time, it will be in an Orson Welles' movie, and it will be an honour.


I noted this story in the New York Times, not very helpful for the cause, written as if the campaign's tally was the opening weekend grosses of a major movie. People may not have that kind of cash on hand immediately and with that 40 day option, like many a telethon over the years, a lot of people are waiting until the last minute to send through their contribution.


Anyway, here's a link to the NY Post story -- lets give Lou the "Wind" in the best possible way....


http://nypost.com/2015/05/08/why-is-the-crowdsourced-campaign-to-finish-orson-welles-final-film-a-massive-flop/

Got an update today. They lowered their goal from two million dollars to one million and have raised less than 270K with only 13 days to go. Disappointing. They do promise that all money raised will go to toward completion of the film.

Everyone keeps saying the "big dogs" are going to give money towards the end. I'm not going to run my mouth yet.....

For what it is worth, as I write this, in less than two hours the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for "The Other Side Of The Wind" ends --


If you have any spare dollars, put them to a good cause -- to help finish the last Orson Welles movie.


Donate it on behalf of yourself, in memory of a relative or friend who enjoyed his work (or the movies in general), there are many perks available, not the least a copy of the movie on dvd or bluray itself (although I hope the movie gets a theatrical release first)


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/finish-orson-welles-last-film#/story

It's now closed. $406,405 was the final amount raised. It's a bit disappointing considering the original goal was $2,000,000 but 400K will still probably go a long way toward getting the film finished and released.

Update from Wellesnet. The movie is currently in a locked edit and it is being color-corrected and sound work underway for its long-awaited release. The film will be shown worldwide by Netflix, along with a companion documentary from Oscar winner Morgan Neville.

Michel Legrand will be scoring the film.

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/o...lles-final-film-exclusive-1202730460/#respond

This will be released on Netflix for streaming November 2nd. Apparently the negatives were scanned at 4K and all of the post-production was completed in 4K.

It looks like November will be a great month for fans of Orson Welles. Chances are good Criterion will release The Magnificent Ambersons on blu-ray and as posted on Wellesnet The Other Side of the Wind will be available for streaming as well as the Morgan Neville companion documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead.

Wellesnet has a post that the movie will have it's world premiere at the historic Sala Grande on the Venice Lido on Friday, August 31, at 2:15 p.m. The companion documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead will be shown on September 1 at the Sala Giardino at 2:30 p.m.

Wellesnet is reporting that the movie will have its North American premiere at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival in Colorado from August 31 to September 3.

Netflix has posted the official trailer for this. Looks really good and can’t wait to finally see it:

Wellesnet has posted the 90 second trailer video for the movie. Looks very interesting and can't wait to see the movie!

http://www.wellesnet.com/

Wellesnet has posted some good reviews of the film. Below are two from the Hollywood Reporter & Variety. Can't wait to start up my subscription to Netflix after a 10 year absence to see this film.

The Hollywood Reporter: "The images and scenes hit the screen like cards being swiftly dealt by a master dealer; you have to be quick to keep up with what's being said. A good bit of it is nasty gossip, snide remarks and aphoristic cracks, and when you add in the insinuating and sometimes lewd insults that are Hannaford's stock-in-trade, it's impossible not to note the generally sour and cynical tenor of the proceedings. After all the rebuffs and disappointments of Welles' then-30-year relationship with Hollywood (a history perpetuated in spades by this very film's tortuous history), it's impossible to blame the author for his disenchantment."

Variety: Considering that it took more than 40 years to assemble Orson Welles’ final film into something that resembles finished form, the first question to ask about it is: Does it play like a fully realized movie? The answer (more or less) is yes. The diligent team of archivists and technicians who labored to complete The Other Side of the Wind, led by the Oscar-winning editor Bob Murawski (“The Hurt Locker”), have tackled the 100 hours of footage Welles left behind (along with his extensive notes) as if this were a hallowed cinematic archaeological dig. What their work lays bare is an eccentric, rather choppy, but highly watchable movie, and Orson Welles is quite alive in it. You can feel the intensity of his DNA in its sinister atmosphere of garish noir depravity. So is it a good movie or a bad one? A fascinating jumble or a searingly told story? A work of art or a curio? Let’s say that it’s a little of all those things. The Other Side of the Wind has many characters (though a number of them just pop up to gawk into the camera and detonate a line or two). It has a loose but flowing party-into-the-dead-of-night structure, as well as a ripely cynical atmosphere of Hollywood insider dread. It also comes at you in scrappy bedazzling fragments and a variety of film stocks (35mm and 16mm, black-and-white and color), though the movie, which Welles shot in bits and pieces over a period from 1970 to 1976, isn’t a sketchy, one-man-band fever dream just because Welles died before he could complete it. Judging from the evidence, a sketchy, one-man-band fever dream is what “The Other Side of the Wind” would have been even if he’d finished it."

Wellesnet has their own positive review of the movie by Ray Kelly and calls it "a patchwork style and bitter commentary on a bygone Hollywood era is unlikely to appeal to casual filmgoers". This & Ambersons in November will be a great month!

http://www.wellesnet.com/review-other-side-wind/

Just to sit here and think that in a short while, we’ll be watching a brand new Orson Welles film, it still feels unreal. I can’t wait.

Tomorrow is the day both The Other Side of the Wind & They'll Love Me When I'm Dead will be on Netflix. Just subscribed to see both on my 55" tv....very excited!!