The release of The Other Side of the Wind is accompanied by two documentaries on Orson Welles and his final movie: They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead and A Final Cut for Orson: Forty Years in the Making. And they’re both available to stream on Netflix.
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead is a feature-length documentary. We hear from the two guys involved with The Other Side of the Wind during its forty-year journey. Producer Frank Marshall was one of the four-person crew during the four years of shooting, along with Orson Welles, co-writer and star Oja Kodar and cinematographer Gary Graver. Director Peter Bogdanovich began acting in one role and shifted to another during the shoot – and then played a pivotal off-camera role in the film’s completion.
Here’s what They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead helps you understand about The Other Side of the Wind:
- How essential director of photography Gary Graver was to the project, one of the few non-porn flicks in his filmography.
- Why impressionist Rich Little oddly shows up in the party in The Other Side of the Wind and what was his original role in the film;
- How Welles treated his confidant Bogdanovich in real life, which gives a major insight into The Other Side of the Wind.
- What The Other Side of the Wind insiders think is the intended meaning of the movie.
- Just how charismatic and witty Welles was in real life – even more quick and refreshing than on his talk show appearances.
You can stream They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead on Netflix.
A Final Cut for Orson: Forty Years in the Making is a 38-minute “Making Of’ doc about the restoration and completion of The Other Side of the Wind. It’s a procedural that offers insight into all aspects of the final cut, including the editing and the music. A highlight is actor Danny Huston describing the looping of his father’s voice. The story of rescuing the actual cans of film is a helluva detective story in itself.
Netflix offers A Final Cut for Orson: Forty Years in the Making, but makes it unnecessarily tough to find. Instead of using the Netflix SEARCH feature, go right to The Other Side of the Wind and scroll down and click on MORE TRAILERS.
