Is Orson Welles long-lost cinema Rosetta stone, “The Other Side of the Wind” finally going to come out thanks to longtime protege and frequent interlocutor Peter Bogdanovich and its producer Frank Marshall? Welles started shooting in 1972 with John Huston as the star, but not only did the stentorian-voiced director suffer from perennial completion anxiety, he also usually ailed from lack of funds which was also the case here. About an aged Hollywood director (Huston) attempting to revive his career by making a trippy movie filled with sex and violence, Welles worked on the picture piece-meal for five years afterwards shooting various scenes whenever he could scrape together a few dollars (the film also starred Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg and had appearances by Dennis Hopper and Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom and Claude Chabrol).
After his 1985 death the uncompleted film lay tangled in familial lawsuits, but Showtime is ready to pay for it and Bogdanovich thinks, legalities willing, it will premiere at Cannes this year. “It’s going to happen in the next month or so. We’re aiming for Cannes. Everybody wants it. It’s film history. It will be something for it to finally be seen after all these years.” Then again, the always sanguine and optimistic Bogdanovich said Showtime was ready back in 2007.
Here’s an excellent timeline that marks the trouble life of “The Other Side of The Wind.” The picture has been called one of the “greatest films never released,” but that distinction, especially in Welles oeuvre surely only belongs to the truncated “The Magnificent Ambersons.” Now if only someone could unearth the holy grail of footage. [Variety]
Welles life is so damn tragic. Watch this drunken commercial outtake if you must.
Here’s a scene from ‘Wind’