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Orson Welles's Last Movie: The Making of The Other Side of the Wind
In the summer of 1970 legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. Coincidentally it was the story of a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn’t autobiographical.
The Other Side of the Wind was supposed to take place during a single day, and Welles planned to shoot it in eight weeks. It took twelve years and remains unreleased and largely unseen. The Last Movie is a fast-paced, behind-the-scenes account of the bizarre, hilarious and remarkable making of what has been called "the greatest home movie that no one has ever seen." Funded by the Shah of Iran’s brother-in-law, and based on a script that Welles rewrote every night for years, a final attempt to one-up his own best-work. It’s almost impossible to tell if art is imitating life or vice versa in the film. It’s a production best encompassed by its star, John Huston, who described the making of the film as "an adventure shared by desperate men that finally came to nothing."
The Other Side of the Wind was supposed to take place during a single day, and Welles planned to shoot it in eight weeks. It took twelve years and remains unreleased and largely unseen. The Last Movie is a fast-paced, behind-the-scenes account of the bizarre, hilarious and remarkable making of what has been called "the greatest home movie that no one has ever seen." Funded by the Shah of Iran’s brother-in-law, and based on a script that Welles rewrote every night for years, a final attempt to one-up his own best-work. It’s almost impossible to tell if art is imitating life or vice versa in the film. It’s a production best encompassed by its star, John Huston, who described the making of the film as "an adventure shared by desperate men that finally came to nothing."
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2015
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April 1, 2015
Orson Welles is one of the 20th century's most fascinating people, and there have been an endless number of terrific books about him. Biographies, critiques, even a book about someone who went to lunch with him a few times. Is there anything left to be said?
Well, how about a well-researched and comprehensive in-depth analysis of a movie that Welles spent a lot of time filming and editing, but never actually completed? In other words, a book about an Orson Welles film that doesn't exist.
Perfect!
Josh Karp has discovered everything you've ever wanted to know about "The Other Side of the Wind," a movie that has been described as Orson Welles's final obsession. It's the movie that Orson Welles spent twenty or so years making, but that -- through a series of unfortunate circumstances as well as some boneheaded moves by Welles -- never got finished or released.
In the course of examining Welles's life through the lens of this unmade film, his book also touches upon Hollywood, other performers such as John Huston and Rich Little, Welles's personal and professional life, and even the Iranian revolution. A few tantalizing tidbits:
Orson Welles reportedly edited part of a porn film. He needed someone from his regular crew to help him with The Other Side of the Wind, but that person was busy editing a porn film. To hurry things along and get this guy back, Welles helped out, and personally edited a lesbian shower scene.
Welles was a terrible, terrible money manager, which was a big part of the problem with getting this movie made. At one point, this book drops the tantalizing nuggets that Welles probably didn't even have a bank account, and frequently walked out on dinner tabs, "paying" the restaurant or his dinner guests with his legendary presence.
Welles deteriorated significantly during the last ten years of his life. He liked using an editing studio that was on the second floor of a walk-up, but as he turned 60, he had to switch to a ground-floor studio because he could no longer make the climb. When his personal assistant brought him a "staggeringly large" amount of fast food, she was shocked to see a table full of medicine bottles in his room. When Welles noticed that the assistant was gaping at him as he dug into his food while surrounded by medicine, he looked at her and said, simply and sadly, "Do you think I want to live like this?"
And here's a "wish-I-were-there" story from the Acknowledgements section: When Karp interviewed Rich Little for this book, Karp says that the famous impressionist "spent much of the interview conducting conversations between Orson Welles and John Houston in dead-on impressions of their actual voices." Why, oh why, didn't Karp bring a video camera?
This is a really great book for anyone who is interested in a unique perspective on Orson Wells, Hollywood, or how movies are made -- and not made.
ONE CAVEAT: I got this book free through the Goodreads giveaway program, and got something called an "Advance Reading Copy." I'm not sure what that means, but my version of this book contained multiple typos ("Welles provided the voice fir the planet Unicron..."), and sloppy editing ("a clearly stoned Dennis Hopper appears on camera sitting by a fire, clearly stoned..."). The illustrations were scattered randomly throughout the book, uncaptioned and difficult to see -- one was almost literally nothing but a big black blotch. And there was no index, which made it almost hopeless to try to straighten myself out when I lost track of who was who in Orson Welles's vast entourage. My rating assumes that the final published version does not have these errors.
Well, how about a well-researched and comprehensive in-depth analysis of a movie that Welles spent a lot of time filming and editing, but never actually completed? In other words, a book about an Orson Welles film that doesn't exist.
Perfect!
Josh Karp has discovered everything you've ever wanted to know about "The Other Side of the Wind," a movie that has been described as Orson Welles's final obsession. It's the movie that Orson Welles spent twenty or so years making, but that -- through a series of unfortunate circumstances as well as some boneheaded moves by Welles -- never got finished or released.
In the course of examining Welles's life through the lens of this unmade film, his book also touches upon Hollywood, other performers such as John Huston and Rich Little, Welles's personal and professional life, and even the Iranian revolution. A few tantalizing tidbits:
Orson Welles reportedly edited part of a porn film. He needed someone from his regular crew to help him with The Other Side of the Wind, but that person was busy editing a porn film. To hurry things along and get this guy back, Welles helped out, and personally edited a lesbian shower scene.
Welles was a terrible, terrible money manager, which was a big part of the problem with getting this movie made. At one point, this book drops the tantalizing nuggets that Welles probably didn't even have a bank account, and frequently walked out on dinner tabs, "paying" the restaurant or his dinner guests with his legendary presence.
Welles deteriorated significantly during the last ten years of his life. He liked using an editing studio that was on the second floor of a walk-up, but as he turned 60, he had to switch to a ground-floor studio because he could no longer make the climb. When his personal assistant brought him a "staggeringly large" amount of fast food, she was shocked to see a table full of medicine bottles in his room. When Welles noticed that the assistant was gaping at him as he dug into his food while surrounded by medicine, he looked at her and said, simply and sadly, "Do you think I want to live like this?"
And here's a "wish-I-were-there" story from the Acknowledgements section: When Karp interviewed Rich Little for this book, Karp says that the famous impressionist "spent much of the interview conducting conversations between Orson Welles and John Houston in dead-on impressions of their actual voices." Why, oh why, didn't Karp bring a video camera?
This is a really great book for anyone who is interested in a unique perspective on Orson Wells, Hollywood, or how movies are made -- and not made.
ONE CAVEAT: I got this book free through the Goodreads giveaway program, and got something called an "Advance Reading Copy." I'm not sure what that means, but my version of this book contained multiple typos ("Welles provided the voice fir the planet Unicron..."), and sloppy editing ("a clearly stoned Dennis Hopper appears on camera sitting by a fire, clearly stoned..."). The illustrations were scattered randomly throughout the book, uncaptioned and difficult to see -- one was almost literally nothing but a big black blotch. And there was no index, which made it almost hopeless to try to straighten myself out when I lost track of who was who in Orson Welles's vast entourage. My rating assumes that the final published version does not have these errors.
April 26, 2015
For Welles fans this is a must read. The story is as much a biography of the final film of Welles' carreer, "The Other Side Of The Wind" (or the attempt at making it), as it is of Orson Welles. Karp gives enough background information on Welles and the various personalities involved in this tragic tale of an uncompleted masterpiece (both Welles as well as the movie as it turns out), to keep the narrative going at a lickety-split pace without bogging the reader down with too many details. Karp's writing style actually seems to match Welles' frenetic pace, which he was famous for and continued for the entirety of his life; the man seemingly slept little and never stood still. Although quick read, I found myself slightly fatigued from following the great man around, that is how well Karp carries the story. Welles greatest strength as well as his greatest weakness was his desire for perfection (both in people, himself included of course, as well as his art) and the ultimate result was that he was never satisfied with anything and constantly making changes to "improve" it, therefore the likelihood of projects ever being completed was very slim, as well as leaving a trail of devastated people in his wake. The really sad part is that the film was considered by many who saw the various working prints of it, felt it was truly a masterpiece, and the fact that it has never been finished and shown publicly is a great loss to film lovers everywhere. Much of the difficulty here revolves around the business aspect of the making of the film; ownership rights principally. Like many artists, Welles was not particularly interested in the financial aspects and consequently he invariably created, through inattention, a real mess with this aspect of his art. In his case one is left to wonder if he wasn't a bit intentionally obstructive. Karp brings this all out, but doesn't go so far as to make definitive judgements on Welles, and the reader is pretty much left to decide for himself what to make of the complicated genius of Orson Welles.
Thanks a lot to Goodreads for providing a free copy through the giveaway program. This has been my favorite read so far this year.
Thanks a lot to Goodreads for providing a free copy through the giveaway program. This has been my favorite read so far this year.
September 5, 2015
The sad, long saga of Orson Welles's last work on film is throughly chronicled in Karp's book. And it is a very sad and very long tale ... not long in book length, but in the years and years and frustration of trying to complete THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, a film about a great director and his last film and the people who surround him in his last work. Most of the frustration can be attributed to the great director Welles, himself. It seems obvious that this work was some kind of psychological purging and metaphor for Welles and another indication of his never wanting to give up control of his work to studios or editors or producers due to his being 'burned' in the past. However, it, also, appears that Welles purposes NEVER wants to finish a work for some emotional reasoning.
There are so many figures of Hollywood past involved in this never finished film, who are mostly all dead and the film negative and working print are still tangled in a financial ownership mess that has lasted years since Welles's death. The film's financial backing was provided by so many people and donors and even the Iranian Government when the Shah was in power. The knotty issue of how it all played out and who owed who and gave what is often quite confusing. But, it is a fascinating story and you read about the friendships and hangers-on in Welles's circle ... great stuff about the director John Huston who played the lead in this film and director Peter Bogdanovich who played an acting part and a supportive role of often dubious substance in Welles's later life.
The film is STILL undone and locked away and scenes of actors were filmed in one year and then the next scene or continuation of a scene was done years later. It sounds maddening and crazy and possibly a mess of a failure, but hopefully, one day, we can see the work cobbled together in some form.
There are so many figures of Hollywood past involved in this never finished film, who are mostly all dead and the film negative and working print are still tangled in a financial ownership mess that has lasted years since Welles's death. The film's financial backing was provided by so many people and donors and even the Iranian Government when the Shah was in power. The knotty issue of how it all played out and who owed who and gave what is often quite confusing. But, it is a fascinating story and you read about the friendships and hangers-on in Welles's circle ... great stuff about the director John Huston who played the lead in this film and director Peter Bogdanovich who played an acting part and a supportive role of often dubious substance in Welles's later life.
The film is STILL undone and locked away and scenes of actors were filmed in one year and then the next scene or continuation of a scene was done years later. It sounds maddening and crazy and possibly a mess of a failure, but hopefully, one day, we can see the work cobbled together in some form.
April 20, 2021
I believe that Simon Callow has written the most definitive study of Orson Welles. However, as of this writing, he has completed three of an anticipated four volumes. So, the information in Josh Karp’s book, ORSON WELLES’S LAST MOVIE: THE MAKING OF THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, provided a great deal of new and fascinating information.
When Karp finished his book, “The Other Side Of The Wind” was still an unfinished film of Orson Welles. A number of sources had Rights to the film, and getting agreement (usually involving the amount of money to be paid) proved to be a Herculean effort that hadn’t been resolved. However, since the publication, Netflix acquired the Rights and has made the film available on their site. (The final edit was done by Peter Bogdanovich.) They also offer a 2018 documentary about the making of this film called “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead” (a noted sarcastic retort from Welles regarding the difficulty in finding financing and maintaining control over his films). Josh Karp was one of the co-producers of the documentary.
The story of what occurred with this film (the making of which stretched out longer than a decade) falls squarely under the category, “You can’t make this stuff up.” There are so many roadblocks from so many different sources (including the overthrow of the Shah of Iran!), and these often involved Orson Welles himself. Yet, Karp walks the Reader through the process, and it is a fascinating journey.
If you know little about “The Other Side Of The Wind,” you are likely to become frustrated with watching the film. A deeply personal vision, Orson Welles (who was always quick to assert that it was not autobiographical) possibly intended it to “bookend” his film career that began with the monumental “Citizen Kane.” The number of Names associated with it is impressive, and there was huge speculation about what would be seen in the completed project. In fact, many people who worked on it in any capacity listed it when applying for other work ... and maintained that they were hired because of that association even though the film was not released.
I was absolutely fascinated by the stories of the creation process. Orson Welles was a cinematic problem solver who could produce scenes as if they were magic tricks, manipulating an audience into believing that much more expense had gone into the scene construction. Much of this was accomplished in the editing room. However, the details of how he filmed an actress on a “mountain ridge” while the actual location was a parking lot caused my jaw to drop. (A color photograph of the shooting is included. I loved it!)
The one thing that I could have done without was Karp emulating Welles’ “voice” at the opening of the book and the closing before the Afterward. Yes, Welles would often adopt the persona of the omnipresent Narrator, but that struck me as being too self-assured on the part of this writer.
Although I have watched “The Other Side Of The Wind” before, I will definitely be watching it again with this background in mind. Regardless of the many opinions of Orson Welles as a person, there is no doubt in my mind that he was also a creative genius.
When Karp finished his book, “The Other Side Of The Wind” was still an unfinished film of Orson Welles. A number of sources had Rights to the film, and getting agreement (usually involving the amount of money to be paid) proved to be a Herculean effort that hadn’t been resolved. However, since the publication, Netflix acquired the Rights and has made the film available on their site. (The final edit was done by Peter Bogdanovich.) They also offer a 2018 documentary about the making of this film called “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead” (a noted sarcastic retort from Welles regarding the difficulty in finding financing and maintaining control over his films). Josh Karp was one of the co-producers of the documentary.
The story of what occurred with this film (the making of which stretched out longer than a decade) falls squarely under the category, “You can’t make this stuff up.” There are so many roadblocks from so many different sources (including the overthrow of the Shah of Iran!), and these often involved Orson Welles himself. Yet, Karp walks the Reader through the process, and it is a fascinating journey.
If you know little about “The Other Side Of The Wind,” you are likely to become frustrated with watching the film. A deeply personal vision, Orson Welles (who was always quick to assert that it was not autobiographical) possibly intended it to “bookend” his film career that began with the monumental “Citizen Kane.” The number of Names associated with it is impressive, and there was huge speculation about what would be seen in the completed project. In fact, many people who worked on it in any capacity listed it when applying for other work ... and maintained that they were hired because of that association even though the film was not released.
I was absolutely fascinated by the stories of the creation process. Orson Welles was a cinematic problem solver who could produce scenes as if they were magic tricks, manipulating an audience into believing that much more expense had gone into the scene construction. Much of this was accomplished in the editing room. However, the details of how he filmed an actress on a “mountain ridge” while the actual location was a parking lot caused my jaw to drop. (A color photograph of the shooting is included. I loved it!)
The one thing that I could have done without was Karp emulating Welles’ “voice” at the opening of the book and the closing before the Afterward. Yes, Welles would often adopt the persona of the omnipresent Narrator, but that struck me as being too self-assured on the part of this writer.
Although I have watched “The Other Side Of The Wind” before, I will definitely be watching it again with this background in mind. Regardless of the many opinions of Orson Welles as a person, there is no doubt in my mind that he was also a creative genius.
July 6, 2018
Considering the fact that this book is devoted to a film that Orson Welles took over a decade not to finish it will be of interest to film buffs only. But what a treat. In the declining years of his career Welles was apparently still brilliant, still enigmatic if not impenetrable, still charmingly seductive, & still a complete pain in the arse. The author has researched this period of the great director's life exhaustively & clearly interviewed as many of Welles' collaborators as was humanly possible. It is also apparent that he has seen whatever remains of The Other Side Of The Wind (even Welles admitted he had no idea what the title meant). As self-destructive as Orson often was Karp got me cheering at every major step forward in the film's production, only to slump as the next major obstacle, usually created by Welles himself, reared its ugly head. I'll leave you with the advice Welles passed on to protege, Peter Bogdanovich (who appeared in the film), about how to select a property - "Never touch shit, even with gloves on. The gloves only get shittier, but the shit doesn't get any glovvier."
March 14, 2024
An interesting look at the final years of one of the greatest artists in history. It showed me the price of worshipping yourself instead of Jesus Christ. When you build your life around being this great person that is revered by many, you live your life always serving that facade, never at peace.
I was fascinated by the misadventures Orson went through on his last project. In depth and funny at times, I definitely enjoyed this book.
I was fascinated by the misadventures Orson went through on his last project. In depth and funny at times, I definitely enjoyed this book.
May 14, 2015
Orson Welles has the reputation of being one of the greatest filmmakers of the twentieth centuries. Citizen Kane is held up as a masterpiece, others such as Mr. Arkadin are looked at as films that might have been under different circumstances and that's not to mention a number of uncompleted projects that have seen the light of day. Yet there is one Welles film that has never seen the light of day, at least not where the public has ever been able to see it. That film would be The Other Side Of The Wind, the subject of Josh Karp's new book Orson Welles's Last Movie.
Karp's book is a treasure trove of knowledge as it pieces together the more than forty-five year history of the film. The book, in proper Welles style, opens up not at the beginning of the lengthy shoot for Other Side Of The Wind but with Welles 1985 death which serves as a Kane like prologue for the entire book. From there, the book starts by tracing the film's roots back to the earliest days of Welles' career and an encounter with Ernest Hemingway, Karp then gives a brief summing up of the ups and downs of that career up to the point in the late 1960s when the film began to take shape.
The majority of the book takes the reader on a journey through the last fifteen years of Welles life and the incredible cast of real life characters involved in the making of the film. There's Welles himself of course who comes across as a larger than life figure who seems to go back and forth between creative genius, capable of inspiring great loyalty while also being an incredibly flawed human being capable of petty jealously and anger. There's Welles mistress the actress Oja Kador, Welles protege the actor/director Peter Bogdanovich, actor John Huston (who didn't start shooting scenes until four years into filming), the brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran who helped to finance the film and crew members such as Gary Graver, a B-movie maker who becomes the cinematographer on Other Side Of The Wind and spends decades dedicated to the film and Welles.
This section of the book is also full of incredible moments and details. There's Welles using a table and a bread truck to get a forced perspective shot, how critics attacking the reputation of Citizen Kane put a brief stop to filming, how one of the film's actresses was a waitress in a diner who was cast after serving Welles dinner and how both his continuing push for artistic freedom helped to guarantee that editing wouldn't be completed by the time of his death. It makes for an intriguing read as it portrays the ups and downs of film-making and how outside forces including the Iranian Revolution and the fall of Bogdanovich's career during the mid-late 1970s effected the film.
The last section of the book covers the thirty years that have passed since Welles death. It's a story just as compelling as the making of the film itself and involves Kador, Welles daughter Beatrice and the Showtime channel amongst others in an ongoing thirty year effort to finally get the film completed and released. In it, Karp reveals a mess of rights issues, conflicting agendas and how attempts to protect Welles legacy have helped to keep the film unreleased and how filmmakers ranging from Huston to Clint Eastwood have tried their hand at piecing together the eleven hours worth of filmed material into a final product. The book doesn't cover the recently launched campaign on Indiegogo but I imagine that a second edition might very well do so and maybe write the last chapter on The Other Side Of The Wind.
Karp's greatest achievement though might be that he's able to present a coherent story pieced together from decades of speculation and controversy alongside newly conducted interviews and research. While I'm sure that many Welles' aficionados are well aware of some of the stories related here, I must confess that (as someone whose come to the saga around the film only in the last couple of years) I'm grateful that he's pieced it all together into a narrative within a single volume The effort is arguably akin to the attempts to put the film together at last, with art imitating life and vice versa.
Even better, Karp keeps the book compelling throughout. The book easily could have been a dull analysis of “what went wrong” or just simply been a string of anecdotes about the film strung together. Instead, Karp's narrative follows the tangled web of filmmakers and financiers throughout the last fifteen years of Welles life struggling to get the film made followed by three decades of further efforts. Karp's flowing prose style and compelling narrative means that the book is never dry, never dull and goes along at a great pace.
If you're a film buff or a Welles aficionado, I heartily recommend the book. It's a fascinating read and a tale of creative persistence in the face of financial issues, egos and conflicting agendas. More than that it presents a compelling, immensely readable biography of a film few have ever seen and a portrait of a filmmaker misunderstood in life and loved in death. As Karp shows, it's a tale only Orson Welles could have created.
Karp's book is a treasure trove of knowledge as it pieces together the more than forty-five year history of the film. The book, in proper Welles style, opens up not at the beginning of the lengthy shoot for Other Side Of The Wind but with Welles 1985 death which serves as a Kane like prologue for the entire book. From there, the book starts by tracing the film's roots back to the earliest days of Welles' career and an encounter with Ernest Hemingway, Karp then gives a brief summing up of the ups and downs of that career up to the point in the late 1960s when the film began to take shape.
The majority of the book takes the reader on a journey through the last fifteen years of Welles life and the incredible cast of real life characters involved in the making of the film. There's Welles himself of course who comes across as a larger than life figure who seems to go back and forth between creative genius, capable of inspiring great loyalty while also being an incredibly flawed human being capable of petty jealously and anger. There's Welles mistress the actress Oja Kador, Welles protege the actor/director Peter Bogdanovich, actor John Huston (who didn't start shooting scenes until four years into filming), the brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran who helped to finance the film and crew members such as Gary Graver, a B-movie maker who becomes the cinematographer on Other Side Of The Wind and spends decades dedicated to the film and Welles.
This section of the book is also full of incredible moments and details. There's Welles using a table and a bread truck to get a forced perspective shot, how critics attacking the reputation of Citizen Kane put a brief stop to filming, how one of the film's actresses was a waitress in a diner who was cast after serving Welles dinner and how both his continuing push for artistic freedom helped to guarantee that editing wouldn't be completed by the time of his death. It makes for an intriguing read as it portrays the ups and downs of film-making and how outside forces including the Iranian Revolution and the fall of Bogdanovich's career during the mid-late 1970s effected the film.
The last section of the book covers the thirty years that have passed since Welles death. It's a story just as compelling as the making of the film itself and involves Kador, Welles daughter Beatrice and the Showtime channel amongst others in an ongoing thirty year effort to finally get the film completed and released. In it, Karp reveals a mess of rights issues, conflicting agendas and how attempts to protect Welles legacy have helped to keep the film unreleased and how filmmakers ranging from Huston to Clint Eastwood have tried their hand at piecing together the eleven hours worth of filmed material into a final product. The book doesn't cover the recently launched campaign on Indiegogo but I imagine that a second edition might very well do so and maybe write the last chapter on The Other Side Of The Wind.
Karp's greatest achievement though might be that he's able to present a coherent story pieced together from decades of speculation and controversy alongside newly conducted interviews and research. While I'm sure that many Welles' aficionados are well aware of some of the stories related here, I must confess that (as someone whose come to the saga around the film only in the last couple of years) I'm grateful that he's pieced it all together into a narrative within a single volume The effort is arguably akin to the attempts to put the film together at last, with art imitating life and vice versa.
Even better, Karp keeps the book compelling throughout. The book easily could have been a dull analysis of “what went wrong” or just simply been a string of anecdotes about the film strung together. Instead, Karp's narrative follows the tangled web of filmmakers and financiers throughout the last fifteen years of Welles life struggling to get the film made followed by three decades of further efforts. Karp's flowing prose style and compelling narrative means that the book is never dry, never dull and goes along at a great pace.
If you're a film buff or a Welles aficionado, I heartily recommend the book. It's a fascinating read and a tale of creative persistence in the face of financial issues, egos and conflicting agendas. More than that it presents a compelling, immensely readable biography of a film few have ever seen and a portrait of a filmmaker misunderstood in life and loved in death. As Karp shows, it's a tale only Orson Welles could have created.
January 9, 2019
Orson Welles has the reputation of being one of the greatest filmmakers of the twentieth centuries. Citizen Kane is held up as a masterpiece, others such as Mr. Arkadin are looked at as films that might have been under different circumstances and that's not to mention a number of uncompleted projects that have seen the light of day. Yet there is one Welles film that has never seen the light of day, at least not where the public has ever been able to see it. That film would be The Other Side Of The Wind, the subject of Josh Karp's new book Orson Welles's Last Movie.
Karp's book is a treasure trove of knowledge as it pieces together the more than forty-five year history of the film. The book, in proper Welles style, opens up not at the beginning of the lengthy shoot for Other Side Of The Wind but with Welles 1985 death which serves as a Kane like prologue for the entire book. From there, the book starts by tracing the film's roots back to the earliest days of Welles' career and an encounter with Ernest Hemingway, Karp then gives a brief summing up of the ups and downs of that career up to the point in the late 1960s when the film began to take shape.
The majority of the book takes the reader on a journey through the last fifteen years of Welles life and the incredible cast of real life characters involved in the making of the film. There's Welles himself of course who comes across as a larger than life figure who seems to go back and forth between creative genius, capable of inspiring great loyalty while also being an incredibly flawed human being capable of petty jealously and anger. There's Welles mistress the actress Oja Kador, Welles protege the actor/director Peter Bogdanovich, actor John Huston (who didn't start shooting scenes until four years into filming), the brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran who helped to finance the film and crew members such as Gary Graver, a B-movie maker who becomes the cinematographer on Other Side Of The Wind and spends decades dedicated to the film and Welles.
This section of the book is also full of incredible moments and details. There's Welles using a table and a bread truck to get a forced perspective shot, how critics attacking the reputation of Citizen Kane put a brief stop to filming, how one of the film's actresses was a waitress in a diner who was cast after serving Welles dinner and how both his continuing push for artistic freedom helped to guarantee that editing wouldn't be completed by the time of his death. It makes for an intriguing read as it portrays the ups and downs of film-making and how outside forces including the Iranian Revolution and the fall of Bogdanovich's career during the mid-late 1970s effected the film.
The last section of the book covers the thirty years that have passed since Welles death. It's a story just as compelling as the making of the film itself and involves Kador, Welles daughter Beatrice and the Showtime channel amongst others in an ongoing thirty year effort to finally get the film completed and released. In it, Karp reveals a mess of rights issues, conflicting agendas and how attempts to protect Welles legacy have helped to keep the film unreleased and how filmmakers ranging from Huston to Clint Eastwood have tried their hand at piecing together the eleven hours worth of filmed material into a final product. The book doesn't cover the recently launched campaign on Indiegogo but I imagine that a second edition might very well do so and maybe write the last chapter on The Other Side Of The Wind.
Karp's greatest achievement though might be that he's able to present a coherent story pieced together from decades of speculation and controversy alongside newly conducted interviews and research. While I'm sure that many Welles' aficionados are well aware of some of the stories related here, I must confess that (as someone whose come to the saga around the film only in the last couple of years) I'm grateful that he's pieced it all together into a narrative within a single volume The effort is arguably akin to the attempts to put the film together at last, with art imitating life and vice versa.
Even better, Karp keeps the book compelling throughout. The book easily could have been a dull analysis of “what went wrong” or just simply been a string of anecdotes about the film strung together. Instead, Karp's narrative follows the tangled web of filmmakers and financiers throughout the last fifteen years of Welles life struggling to get the film made followed by three decades of further efforts. Karp's flowing prose style and compelling narrative means that the book is never dry, never dull and goes along at a great pace.
If you're a film buff or a Welles aficionado, I heartily recommend the book. It's a fascinating read and a tale of creative persistence in the face of financial issues, egos and conflicting agendas. More than that it presents a compelling, immensely readable biography of a film few have ever seen and a portrait of a filmmaker misunderstood in life and loved in death. As Karp shows, it's a tale only Orson Welles could have created.
Karp's book is a treasure trove of knowledge as it pieces together the more than forty-five year history of the film. The book, in proper Welles style, opens up not at the beginning of the lengthy shoot for Other Side Of The Wind but with Welles 1985 death which serves as a Kane like prologue for the entire book. From there, the book starts by tracing the film's roots back to the earliest days of Welles' career and an encounter with Ernest Hemingway, Karp then gives a brief summing up of the ups and downs of that career up to the point in the late 1960s when the film began to take shape.
The majority of the book takes the reader on a journey through the last fifteen years of Welles life and the incredible cast of real life characters involved in the making of the film. There's Welles himself of course who comes across as a larger than life figure who seems to go back and forth between creative genius, capable of inspiring great loyalty while also being an incredibly flawed human being capable of petty jealously and anger. There's Welles mistress the actress Oja Kador, Welles protege the actor/director Peter Bogdanovich, actor John Huston (who didn't start shooting scenes until four years into filming), the brother-in-law of the Shah of Iran who helped to finance the film and crew members such as Gary Graver, a B-movie maker who becomes the cinematographer on Other Side Of The Wind and spends decades dedicated to the film and Welles.
This section of the book is also full of incredible moments and details. There's Welles using a table and a bread truck to get a forced perspective shot, how critics attacking the reputation of Citizen Kane put a brief stop to filming, how one of the film's actresses was a waitress in a diner who was cast after serving Welles dinner and how both his continuing push for artistic freedom helped to guarantee that editing wouldn't be completed by the time of his death. It makes for an intriguing read as it portrays the ups and downs of film-making and how outside forces including the Iranian Revolution and the fall of Bogdanovich's career during the mid-late 1970s effected the film.
The last section of the book covers the thirty years that have passed since Welles death. It's a story just as compelling as the making of the film itself and involves Kador, Welles daughter Beatrice and the Showtime channel amongst others in an ongoing thirty year effort to finally get the film completed and released. In it, Karp reveals a mess of rights issues, conflicting agendas and how attempts to protect Welles legacy have helped to keep the film unreleased and how filmmakers ranging from Huston to Clint Eastwood have tried their hand at piecing together the eleven hours worth of filmed material into a final product. The book doesn't cover the recently launched campaign on Indiegogo but I imagine that a second edition might very well do so and maybe write the last chapter on The Other Side Of The Wind.
Karp's greatest achievement though might be that he's able to present a coherent story pieced together from decades of speculation and controversy alongside newly conducted interviews and research. While I'm sure that many Welles' aficionados are well aware of some of the stories related here, I must confess that (as someone whose come to the saga around the film only in the last couple of years) I'm grateful that he's pieced it all together into a narrative within a single volume The effort is arguably akin to the attempts to put the film together at last, with art imitating life and vice versa.
Even better, Karp keeps the book compelling throughout. The book easily could have been a dull analysis of “what went wrong” or just simply been a string of anecdotes about the film strung together. Instead, Karp's narrative follows the tangled web of filmmakers and financiers throughout the last fifteen years of Welles life struggling to get the film made followed by three decades of further efforts. Karp's flowing prose style and compelling narrative means that the book is never dry, never dull and goes along at a great pace.
If you're a film buff or a Welles aficionado, I heartily recommend the book. It's a fascinating read and a tale of creative persistence in the face of financial issues, egos and conflicting agendas. More than that it presents a compelling, immensely readable biography of a film few have ever seen and a portrait of a filmmaker misunderstood in life and loved in death. As Karp shows, it's a tale only Orson Welles could have created.
Read
October 23, 2023first of all it’s crazy how netflix of all places ended up with this movie and it’s just… there (if they haven’t annihilated it off the face of the earth by now for tax reasons or whatever they usually do)
second of all… what clothes exactly was peter bogdanovich spending 70k yearly in 80s money on? neckerchiefs???
second of all… what clothes exactly was peter bogdanovich spending 70k yearly in 80s money on? neckerchiefs???
February 16, 2019
#21 of 120 books pledged to read during 2019
Fascinating reading about the movie Welles never finished. Good timing that I just read the book now, since the film has been finished and is now showing on Netflix, as well as a 'making-of' documentary called "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead". I've seen the documentary, and now all this great info that was in the book will still be fresh as I start watching the film!
Fascinating reading about the movie Welles never finished. Good timing that I just read the book now, since the film has been finished and is now showing on Netflix, as well as a 'making-of' documentary called "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead". I've seen the documentary, and now all this great info that was in the book will still be fresh as I start watching the film!
December 6, 2021
Thoroughly-researched and readable. It's worth saying that, because of the movie this happens to be about, it's as much a story about wrangling over money and rights and negatives and all that, as it is about the art and craft of filmmaking. Its only real failing is that it came out in 2015, and as such cannot cover the final stages of negotiations, the completion of the film, and its actual release; the film's completion and release had seemed imminent every few years for three decades before then, though- Karp just had the bad luck to write his book right before it actually happened.
Karp's clearly in command of his material, and got (and makes good use of) interviews with almost all the living principals- Oja Kodar being the only really glaring omission. Perhaps as a result of this, while Karp actually goes very soft on Welles's own absurdities, occasional cruelty, and self-sabotaging, Kodar is presented pretty negatively, as the main obstacle to the film's ultimate completion. Gary Graver and Mehdi Boushehri, who'd died before the book was written, are presented almost uniformly positively, perhaps because Karp got information on them from interviews with friends and family who regarded them positively. He kind of softballs Bogdanovich, too, despite documenting several instances of Bogdanovich derailing things or being an idiot.
(I actually don't really care about film history very much, though, and I don't have any particular interest in seeing The Other Side of the Wind. This was an opportunistic read. I can recognize that it's a solid work of film history, though.)
Karp's clearly in command of his material, and got (and makes good use of) interviews with almost all the living principals- Oja Kodar being the only really glaring omission. Perhaps as a result of this, while Karp actually goes very soft on Welles's own absurdities, occasional cruelty, and self-sabotaging, Kodar is presented pretty negatively, as the main obstacle to the film's ultimate completion. Gary Graver and Mehdi Boushehri, who'd died before the book was written, are presented almost uniformly positively, perhaps because Karp got information on them from interviews with friends and family who regarded them positively. He kind of softballs Bogdanovich, too, despite documenting several instances of Bogdanovich derailing things or being an idiot.
(I actually don't really care about film history very much, though, and I don't have any particular interest in seeing The Other Side of the Wind. This was an opportunistic read. I can recognize that it's a solid work of film history, though.)
August 2, 2015
I'm kind of obsessed with Orson Welles. It's not a full-on obsession like I have with some exploitation/grindhouse directors, but Welles in all his glory is a really interesting character. Orson Welles's Last Movie is effectively a light, readable history of Welles's last days trying to get The Other Side of the Wind off the ground, and it's a great look into the dysfunction of Hollywood in many regards, about Welles dealing with the post-Hays Code shift, and so on.
I'm not sure how much this has for people who have more than a passing knowledge. I found it to be a fun read with some insight, but nothing significant like I'm sometimes used to. Still, this is absolutely a great read for people with interest in movies or a desire to learn more about late-era Welles.
I'm not sure how much this has for people who have more than a passing knowledge. I found it to be a fun read with some insight, but nothing significant like I'm sometimes used to. Still, this is absolutely a great read for people with interest in movies or a desire to learn more about late-era Welles.
August 4, 2015
I don't usually enjoy reading non-fiction, but this book was THE BEST. It gave enough history for the non-fan to follow, it was funny, exciting, confusing . . It also gave a convincing portrait of Orson Welles, his magnetism, charisma, the way he felt/worked about/with money, and how he worked as a director!
March 3, 2016
Orson Welles’s Last Movie
By Josh Karp
I'm generally not a movie fan. Some of the people and products involved have interested me beyond all the run of the mill junk. I liked Chaplin stuff silent and talkies and some other silent material and a handful of other people have caught my interest most of these on the fringe of things, the outsiders, the rebels. Naturally this would be the product geared to me. Of course I’m not so naive to really believe rebellion can come at negative production cost half a million or more, but this is pretend and “Tinsel Town” and all that. To me film is meaningless as an organizing tool although it worked well for the KKK because it is great at delivering crude blunt ideas. I tend to think it is a better tool for the totalitarian Right or Left rather than whatever I think I wanted politically. It is effective as a rallying tool for the “War on Terrorism”.
One can go forever down the rabbit hole of movie history. We are very industrious in this area, producing product and talking about it, and one could doubtless sit for years watching unique moving image without having to repeat. I say all this to separating myself from fandom. I mean, I don't want to associate myself with Star Wars, Superhero, blockbuster people. That's not what I'm about. I'm sometimes an actor but that is just because it is a easy thing to do to get attention. It's also preferable to working hard and accomplishing something which I couldn't have done in any field being temperamentally nervous, skittish, and not able to stick to things to a point of mastery. But I can do a student short in a day and get a bunch of attention on Facebook. People are still easily impressed that someone has made it to a screen since this stuff is still quite new considering all the time people have been around. Silly really considering the technological ease of collecting and displaying moving image. I mean relatively, in the timeline of human life, we got to the moving image thing two seconds ago. In the early decades of the 20th Century, filmmaking, when few could afford to do it, basically anyone can do it now, even edit and distribute globally, without cash out lay via YouTube. I also like to make short videos on my own so have a passing knowledge of how movies are made. It is really not that difficult after one gets past the unpleasantness of cajoling other people to help, since it is mostly a collaborative form.
I never had the remotest interest in making a feature length film and actually think it is a crazy thing to do with endless other more worthwhile activities to get into that aren’t so tedious and subject to costly failure. Costly because to do with things taking time and if there are actual people appearing in the movie you have to feed them and beyond to the messy territory of “Time Is Money”.
Besides why would I want to attempt to hold anyone's attention for that long? It's kind of rude. The feature film is a marketing length anyway, built around theatrically entertaining people for the evening or fit into TV slots. Otherwise why aren’t movies of all different lengths instead of less that 20 minutes to qualify as “Shorts” for most film festivals. or around 90 minutes or more for features. If you have not much to say but it needs to be a feature the time must be taken up with padding.
I like to read books and this book is about a big thing in our culture, the making of movies. In this case a movie by a unique figure in the business. And that makes it interesting to me, It’s specific, not just another day of collecting all the trivial about all movies. If the reader believes that only people who know everything about movies and actually “LOVES” them should write about them, then stop reading. I’m just a casual generalist.
Anyway, the book.
I didn’t like the way he began it The intro is written in the voice of Orson Welles doing one of his intros for a movie or a radio show. It was a cute idea, but didn’t work and certainly was out of place in what is proposing to be a factual book about a lost movie.
This is a tale of frustration. Of course I knew going in that the movie, The Other Side of The Wind, was never going to be finished. Actually after reading the book and observing what went on in 2015, I’m convinced that I will never see this movie. It just appears to be too much of a mess, financially still, and considering its original intention as an art film, perhaps it is better that way and more successful as an artwork unfinished. Actually I'm not even sure I would want to see it. If they are actually finishing it somewhere with the pathetic half million, less than half the goal, of indigogo money, it is going to be a very strange object. Welles's films are pretty damn strange as is and this one is now also a period piece shot during the ugliest of fashion eras in recent memory. The idea of a commercial product of theatrical release is absurd and to see in the book people killing the project forever because they think it is valuable as a commercial item and attempt to increase their take of the finish money is just sad and stupid. In a way the movie seems to be a product and comment on the New Hollywood era that at the time was about to die in the Jaws sea, and the Star Wars space. New Hollywood is now, 40 years after the fact, nothing but a footnote in movie history, a vague irrelevancy it the march of commercial cinema for global domination. If there was something there to sell big money people around the production would step up and get it done. As it is the thing is only of interest to geeky fans and a very few of the dying off participants in the production.
Sad also to read about the people who dumped their lives into this project. Most notably, Gary Graver who shot to movie with Welles and then, after Welles died, continued to try to get money to finish it until he too dropped dead. Yes, he had somewhat of a career doing other projects throughout the Wind saga, but the book implies that he, more than others, devoted his life to the project and suffered a great deal of personal loss because of that.
Maybe so. Or maybe one could look at it as having a unique wild ride with one of the most interesting people to get involved in the movies and created enough of a spash to be known internationally. That is a big part of the story. There are all these people, mostly young at the time, and just entering the movie business, who got involved in the movie production with Welles. By now even these people are old and dying off. So in that way the book shows what people are willing to do to get involved with movie making and how it is actually possible to get involved in the lives and products of big time people whose glory has faded as they head to the final exit. They are stars for sure, but they are also out there somewhere away from the limelight and sometimes in need,
And what of the Welles in this book? He has this movie idea. It has a script, which is a big stack of papers the no one has read. He won’t let even people who have money to back the movie read the script. And he’s rather rude to some of them.
We are told that he never sleeps. What does that mean? Why not? Does a creative genius have a brain that can’t relax so he must keep working? Or is it the booze and diet pills thing that I have read he was into back in the 1940s radio days. I think speed pills are an untold part of this story.
I think anyone who have worked on a set in small production would enjoy this book.
On some level it is all the same, but this is a would be Orson Welles movie.
Josh Karp talked to many people involved with the production. Many of them are now dead.
He does provide a view into the editing room where we are teased about the unique way Welles had cut some of the scenes.
John Huston, the star of the movie comes and goes. When he goes he is off to make several of the fine moves he made in his final years. He had something over Welles in that he could play the game well enough to get things started and finished and then go on to the next. While Welles sits for decades in a bog of his own creation. Meanwhile the Huston who shows up is an alcoholic in this 60s with emphysema. These old men are wreaks and drink what seems to me to be, a lot. But they don’t talk of recovery, or getting themselves together. They just keep plowing ahead to their products and their own oblivion. I was quite interested to observe this through reading Karp’s book and the new biography on Gore Vidal. They just keep going, drunk, or whatever.
It appears Josh Karp was not able to get Oja Kodar. As a result she is mostly missing from the narrative. Was she in the center of the creative process and we have been lead to believe in the past or just another person around the scene as she is in the book?
We are told of the content of the movie. It is about an old director played by Huston and his birthday party and his secret adoration for a young male actor who is in a movie of his.
Why is this an interesting theme for Welles? It is strange that these oddly manly 20th century art figures would end up being interesting in a theme such as this, but there is it.
Why? I will explore in depth later in the review.
Karp’s book is interesting frustrating fun, gossipy of course being a showbiz book.
When we are giv
By Josh Karp
I'm generally not a movie fan. Some of the people and products involved have interested me beyond all the run of the mill junk. I liked Chaplin stuff silent and talkies and some other silent material and a handful of other people have caught my interest most of these on the fringe of things, the outsiders, the rebels. Naturally this would be the product geared to me. Of course I’m not so naive to really believe rebellion can come at negative production cost half a million or more, but this is pretend and “Tinsel Town” and all that. To me film is meaningless as an organizing tool although it worked well for the KKK because it is great at delivering crude blunt ideas. I tend to think it is a better tool for the totalitarian Right or Left rather than whatever I think I wanted politically. It is effective as a rallying tool for the “War on Terrorism”.
One can go forever down the rabbit hole of movie history. We are very industrious in this area, producing product and talking about it, and one could doubtless sit for years watching unique moving image without having to repeat. I say all this to separating myself from fandom. I mean, I don't want to associate myself with Star Wars, Superhero, blockbuster people. That's not what I'm about. I'm sometimes an actor but that is just because it is a easy thing to do to get attention. It's also preferable to working hard and accomplishing something which I couldn't have done in any field being temperamentally nervous, skittish, and not able to stick to things to a point of mastery. But I can do a student short in a day and get a bunch of attention on Facebook. People are still easily impressed that someone has made it to a screen since this stuff is still quite new considering all the time people have been around. Silly really considering the technological ease of collecting and displaying moving image. I mean relatively, in the timeline of human life, we got to the moving image thing two seconds ago. In the early decades of the 20th Century, filmmaking, when few could afford to do it, basically anyone can do it now, even edit and distribute globally, without cash out lay via YouTube. I also like to make short videos on my own so have a passing knowledge of how movies are made. It is really not that difficult after one gets past the unpleasantness of cajoling other people to help, since it is mostly a collaborative form.
I never had the remotest interest in making a feature length film and actually think it is a crazy thing to do with endless other more worthwhile activities to get into that aren’t so tedious and subject to costly failure. Costly because to do with things taking time and if there are actual people appearing in the movie you have to feed them and beyond to the messy territory of “Time Is Money”.
Besides why would I want to attempt to hold anyone's attention for that long? It's kind of rude. The feature film is a marketing length anyway, built around theatrically entertaining people for the evening or fit into TV slots. Otherwise why aren’t movies of all different lengths instead of less that 20 minutes to qualify as “Shorts” for most film festivals. or around 90 minutes or more for features. If you have not much to say but it needs to be a feature the time must be taken up with padding.
I like to read books and this book is about a big thing in our culture, the making of movies. In this case a movie by a unique figure in the business. And that makes it interesting to me, It’s specific, not just another day of collecting all the trivial about all movies. If the reader believes that only people who know everything about movies and actually “LOVES” them should write about them, then stop reading. I’m just a casual generalist.
Anyway, the book.
I didn’t like the way he began it The intro is written in the voice of Orson Welles doing one of his intros for a movie or a radio show. It was a cute idea, but didn’t work and certainly was out of place in what is proposing to be a factual book about a lost movie.
This is a tale of frustration. Of course I knew going in that the movie, The Other Side of The Wind, was never going to be finished. Actually after reading the book and observing what went on in 2015, I’m convinced that I will never see this movie. It just appears to be too much of a mess, financially still, and considering its original intention as an art film, perhaps it is better that way and more successful as an artwork unfinished. Actually I'm not even sure I would want to see it. If they are actually finishing it somewhere with the pathetic half million, less than half the goal, of indigogo money, it is going to be a very strange object. Welles's films are pretty damn strange as is and this one is now also a period piece shot during the ugliest of fashion eras in recent memory. The idea of a commercial product of theatrical release is absurd and to see in the book people killing the project forever because they think it is valuable as a commercial item and attempt to increase their take of the finish money is just sad and stupid. In a way the movie seems to be a product and comment on the New Hollywood era that at the time was about to die in the Jaws sea, and the Star Wars space. New Hollywood is now, 40 years after the fact, nothing but a footnote in movie history, a vague irrelevancy it the march of commercial cinema for global domination. If there was something there to sell big money people around the production would step up and get it done. As it is the thing is only of interest to geeky fans and a very few of the dying off participants in the production.
Sad also to read about the people who dumped their lives into this project. Most notably, Gary Graver who shot to movie with Welles and then, after Welles died, continued to try to get money to finish it until he too dropped dead. Yes, he had somewhat of a career doing other projects throughout the Wind saga, but the book implies that he, more than others, devoted his life to the project and suffered a great deal of personal loss because of that.
Maybe so. Or maybe one could look at it as having a unique wild ride with one of the most interesting people to get involved in the movies and created enough of a spash to be known internationally. That is a big part of the story. There are all these people, mostly young at the time, and just entering the movie business, who got involved in the movie production with Welles. By now even these people are old and dying off. So in that way the book shows what people are willing to do to get involved with movie making and how it is actually possible to get involved in the lives and products of big time people whose glory has faded as they head to the final exit. They are stars for sure, but they are also out there somewhere away from the limelight and sometimes in need,
And what of the Welles in this book? He has this movie idea. It has a script, which is a big stack of papers the no one has read. He won’t let even people who have money to back the movie read the script. And he’s rather rude to some of them.
We are told that he never sleeps. What does that mean? Why not? Does a creative genius have a brain that can’t relax so he must keep working? Or is it the booze and diet pills thing that I have read he was into back in the 1940s radio days. I think speed pills are an untold part of this story.
I think anyone who have worked on a set in small production would enjoy this book.
On some level it is all the same, but this is a would be Orson Welles movie.
Josh Karp talked to many people involved with the production. Many of them are now dead.
He does provide a view into the editing room where we are teased about the unique way Welles had cut some of the scenes.
John Huston, the star of the movie comes and goes. When he goes he is off to make several of the fine moves he made in his final years. He had something over Welles in that he could play the game well enough to get things started and finished and then go on to the next. While Welles sits for decades in a bog of his own creation. Meanwhile the Huston who shows up is an alcoholic in this 60s with emphysema. These old men are wreaks and drink what seems to me to be, a lot. But they don’t talk of recovery, or getting themselves together. They just keep plowing ahead to their products and their own oblivion. I was quite interested to observe this through reading Karp’s book and the new biography on Gore Vidal. They just keep going, drunk, or whatever.
It appears Josh Karp was not able to get Oja Kodar. As a result she is mostly missing from the narrative. Was she in the center of the creative process and we have been lead to believe in the past or just another person around the scene as she is in the book?
We are told of the content of the movie. It is about an old director played by Huston and his birthday party and his secret adoration for a young male actor who is in a movie of his.
Why is this an interesting theme for Welles? It is strange that these oddly manly 20th century art figures would end up being interesting in a theme such as this, but there is it.
Why? I will explore in depth later in the review.
Karp’s book is interesting frustrating fun, gossipy of course being a showbiz book.
When we are giv
October 22, 2018
“The Other Side of The Wind” used to be called "the greatest movie that no one has ever seen." Well, now it’s out, unfortunately its aired on Netflix which I don’t have. So, I got the book till hopefully the movie get distributed on Amazon sometimes soon.
To be honest, the book made me a bit sad, it reminded me of a world we lost. Myself working in the Austrian movie industry which doesn’t really compare to Hollywood though some really fine, award-winning movies were shot there, I seem to remember a world where people (not social media postings) made their mark.
There were stories to tell, rather than tweet-reaches to be measured. This book is full of such stories, which is why I recommend it. Anybody who has aspirations working in any artistic field should read it.
In part it’s about clashes of titans and the “secret sauce” they mixed up in the process.
For example the book tells of a meeting between Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway, in 1937. Orson Welles had been hired to narrate Hemingway’s script for the “The Spanish Earth” a Spanish Civil War documentary and being Orson Welles he decided to improve Hemingway’s script. Needless to say, Hemingway was shocked.
Both of them being “men’s men” Hemingway used Orson Welles’ background in theater to suggest that he was gay. And, Orson Welles knew how to come back.
“... “Mr. Hemingway,” Welles lisped in the swishiest voice he coudl muster, “Ho w strong and big you are!”
The counterpunch hit Hemingway exactly where Orson intended, and the novelist exploded, allegedly picking up a chair and attacking Welles, who grabbed a chair of his own. The aftermath, as Orson described it, was a cartoonish sound booth brawl played out while bloody images of the Spanish Civil War flickered behind them...”
Now picture this story playing out today, in 2018 (instead of 1937) to understand why I speak of a “world lost.” Today, there 3would be people recording such an event on their cell phones spilling it into the social media waves... which is why I would not happen anymore.
I also loved author Josh Karp’s analysis how luck and money were always linked for Orson Wells, since he had made “Citizen Kane.” A true fan of Orson Welles’ work I always focus on his movies, and never think about the money aspect.
Karp closes by pointing out that Orson Welles was right about that everyone would love him AFTER he was dead.
It’s a must read for every Orson Welles fans and anybody who wants to be an artist and deal with the “money aspect”, too.
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
To be honest, the book made me a bit sad, it reminded me of a world we lost. Myself working in the Austrian movie industry which doesn’t really compare to Hollywood though some really fine, award-winning movies were shot there, I seem to remember a world where people (not social media postings) made their mark.
There were stories to tell, rather than tweet-reaches to be measured. This book is full of such stories, which is why I recommend it. Anybody who has aspirations working in any artistic field should read it.
In part it’s about clashes of titans and the “secret sauce” they mixed up in the process.
For example the book tells of a meeting between Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway, in 1937. Orson Welles had been hired to narrate Hemingway’s script for the “The Spanish Earth” a Spanish Civil War documentary and being Orson Welles he decided to improve Hemingway’s script. Needless to say, Hemingway was shocked.
Both of them being “men’s men” Hemingway used Orson Welles’ background in theater to suggest that he was gay. And, Orson Welles knew how to come back.
“... “Mr. Hemingway,” Welles lisped in the swishiest voice he coudl muster, “Ho w strong and big you are!”
The counterpunch hit Hemingway exactly where Orson intended, and the novelist exploded, allegedly picking up a chair and attacking Welles, who grabbed a chair of his own. The aftermath, as Orson described it, was a cartoonish sound booth brawl played out while bloody images of the Spanish Civil War flickered behind them...”
Now picture this story playing out today, in 2018 (instead of 1937) to understand why I speak of a “world lost.” Today, there 3would be people recording such an event on their cell phones spilling it into the social media waves... which is why I would not happen anymore.
I also loved author Josh Karp’s analysis how luck and money were always linked for Orson Wells, since he had made “Citizen Kane.” A true fan of Orson Welles’ work I always focus on his movies, and never think about the money aspect.
Karp closes by pointing out that Orson Welles was right about that everyone would love him AFTER he was dead.
It’s a must read for every Orson Welles fans and anybody who wants to be an artist and deal with the “money aspect”, too.
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
December 4, 2024
История создания последнего фильма Орсона Уэллса, затянувшаяся на сорок лет, сама по себе не настолько увлекательна, поскольку легко описывается словом "хаос". Один из знаковых для кинематографа людей подошёл к "Обратной стороне ветра" с профессионализмом дилетанта. Отсутствие сценария и планирования, постоянные метания, глупейшие ошибки и регулярные пересъёмки, многозначительность за которой пустота и бесконечное сжигание денег впустую - стоит ли удивляться, что студии к тому моменту обходили постановщика за километр. Полным диссонансом с этой профнепригодностью выглядит отношение к нему всех остальных сквозь розовые очки как к гению несмотря ни на что. Собственно происходившее вокруг то ли биографического, то ли нет "эпика" намного интереснее самих съемок. Тут автор разгулялся, хорошо показав Уэллса в его отношениях с близкими: другим Великим - Джоном Хьюстоном (исполнившим главную роль легендарного стареющего режиссера) и со своим протеже - ещё одним фильммейкером Питером Богдановичем (так же сыгравшего самого себя). С первым они в один год стали большими звездами и по масштабам личности были равны, но Хьюстон научился работать в голливудской системе, и достаточно успешно снимал кино до самой старости, в отличие от своего друга, потратившего карьеру на борьбу с ветряными мельницами, и оставившим после себя руины множества брошенных проектов, а со вторым герой прошёл сложный путь от симпатии до стыдной зависти, и в некотором смысле себя на него спроецировал, поскольку к финалу жизни Богданович занимался ровно тем же, чем и Орсон - изображал пародию на себя самого, чтобы находить работу.
Read
September 7, 2021This book tells the story of Orson Welles’s last film, The Other Side of the Wind – a film caught up in a lot of bureaucracy. It managed to be filmed, but was never completed. Josh Karp does his very best to piece together the available information about why the finished film has never seen the light of day.
Production issues. Funding issues. Legal issues. Ownership issues. So many problems. In 1985, Welles died suddenly, and surely then the film could never be finished because the mastermind behind it wasn’t there. No, people still want to finish it.
There was an Indigogo campaign in 2015 to raise funds in order to have the film finished, but those of us who backed it are still waiting for that to happen. Currently apparently Netflix are in talks to finish it and screen it around the world. Here’s to hoping!
While the book was interesting, at times rather amusing, the ending felt very abrupt. It was just finger-pointing at Oja Kodar, Welles’s partner for many years, heavily implying she was trying to delay any attempts at getting it finished, stalling negotiations and so on. And as a reader you’re left hanging. It’s like the whole book is very thorough and engaging and then it ends in a sort of “tl;dr: Kodar doesn’t want it made, that’s about it, The End”. It feels very rushed. And, of course, the book came out before the Indigogo campaign, so that doesn’t even get a mention.
But aside from that, it’s really fascinating to read about how the film was made, even if said film is still not ready for release.
4 out of 5 blown budgets.
Production issues. Funding issues. Legal issues. Ownership issues. So many problems. In 1985, Welles died suddenly, and surely then the film could never be finished because the mastermind behind it wasn’t there. No, people still want to finish it.
There was an Indigogo campaign in 2015 to raise funds in order to have the film finished, but those of us who backed it are still waiting for that to happen. Currently apparently Netflix are in talks to finish it and screen it around the world. Here’s to hoping!
While the book was interesting, at times rather amusing, the ending felt very abrupt. It was just finger-pointing at Oja Kodar, Welles’s partner for many years, heavily implying she was trying to delay any attempts at getting it finished, stalling negotiations and so on. And as a reader you’re left hanging. It’s like the whole book is very thorough and engaging and then it ends in a sort of “tl;dr: Kodar doesn’t want it made, that’s about it, The End”. It feels very rushed. And, of course, the book came out before the Indigogo campaign, so that doesn’t even get a mention.
But aside from that, it’s really fascinating to read about how the film was made, even if said film is still not ready for release.
4 out of 5 blown budgets.
November 24, 2018
A well-documented catalog of horrors involved in making an ambitious film, along with a very satisfying personal sketch of Welles Even for someone like Welles, whose problems with movie-making are as legendary as his successes, the financial, professional, and personal obstacles to completing this particular film are record-breaking.
It's especially good to read this book now that the movie itself is available in a form that tries to respect Welles's wishes. What we read here adds helpful context to a puzzling film.
The book sheds light on Welles's outsize personality, helping us understand how his presence could fill a room even when he was totally silent. As for his many non-silent moments, these document his obsessive tendencies and his glorified, tragic self-image, all mitigated by many, many clever repartees to anyone giving him a hard time.
It's especially good to read this book now that the movie itself is available in a form that tries to respect Welles's wishes. What we read here adds helpful context to a puzzling film.
The book sheds light on Welles's outsize personality, helping us understand how his presence could fill a room even when he was totally silent. As for his many non-silent moments, these document his obsessive tendencies and his glorified, tragic self-image, all mitigated by many, many clever repartees to anyone giving him a hard time.
August 29, 2018
so much fun for so much of it, but ultimately sad ("If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." - Orson Welles ) -- so it's good to know the story hasn't ended .
I laughed a number of times, and groaned when the swordfish was broken yet the sustained groans focused on Orson who refused to finish the picture, or couldn't do so.
I can't wait to see the film itself
and it turns out i finished it on the same day that the trailer came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWHB...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/mo...
I laughed a number of times, and groaned when the swordfish was broken yet the sustained groans focused on Orson who refused to finish the picture, or couldn't do so.
I can't wait to see the film itself
and it turns out i finished it on the same day that the trailer came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWHB...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/mo...
September 8, 2019
Great artists are often shits as human beings. The book about the attempts to finish Welles's last movie makes abundantly clear why Welles's career never recovered from Kane. His personal weaknesses and manipulative personality doomed him, even in the cesspool of Hollywood peers. The book was produced before the latest effort to complete the film, which has finally happened. I was a financial backer for the project, giving a massive $25 to project, no doubt saving it from oblivion once again. For some reason I can't imagine, they left me out the credits. I haven't watched the making-of video yet, but will.
June 13, 2021
What a story! It has everyone from the last Shah and Khomeini’s revolutionaries to John Huston, even Donald Trump turns up. Coming up with a story as bizarre as the making of The Other Side of the Wind would have been difficult even for a genius raconteur like Orson Welles. Josh Karp has done his research well and has written a cracking book. The great thing is that the masterpiece in question was finally released in 2018 and can be watched on Netflix. There is even a very good documentary about the whole saga where Karp has contributed.
December 6, 2018
Interesting at times but too bogged down by details. We don't really need to know about every single time Welles had to beg for money to continue this project (and there were many) or every minute detail about the production. It comes to life a bit when John Huston strides through the action, but overall a bit mind-numbing. I'm glad the movie is finally completed, but if you want the story of how it was made, stick to the Netflix documentaries.
June 23, 2020
Traces the chaotic last 15 years of Welles’s life as tries to finance and complete his final film. Also, a sad look at an aging icon who’s greatest potential was achieved in his younger years. As he approaches the end you see the toll that his self destructiveness had on his career and the man himself.....
July 16, 2020
Extremely entertaining BTS look about the movie. Karp has momentary lapses, however, in writing ability and the publishers left in a surprisingly high amount of typos, but I’m quibbling because this book is so well researched and an invaluable resource for any scholar or fan of Welles and the movie which is finally available to us.
November 24, 2025
This is, for the most part, a truly fascinating glimpse into the mind of Orson Welles, his process, his obsessions, but honestly by the end I was as overwhelmed and tired as I assume many people were in his orbit. A man whose relentless compulsion fuelled dreams and nightmares equally. It begs the question… was it really worth it?
July 4, 2018
Devoured this book in no time as it’s quick moving and fascinating. As a Welles fanatic it still offered insight and makes you want to see the completed movie even more. Thank god Netflix stepped in and saved the day!
January 31, 2019
Like a book I read about Nikola Tesla, a reminder of the under appreciated need for middle managers. Like Tesla, Welles spent far too much of his life in disputes over money, intellectual property rights, marriages, etc., etc. A genius is a terrible thing to waste.
September 18, 2017
I can't wait to see the movie!
September 9, 2019
Great tale of Welles's final movie.
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