Orson Welles's unrealized projects
The following is a list of unproduced Orson Welles projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American actor and filmmaker Orson Welles had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these productions fell in development hell or were cancelled.[1][2][3]
1930s
Too Much Johnson
Heart of Darkness
In 1939, Welles intended to make his feature directorial debut with a film adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for RKO Pictures. It was planned in extreme detail and some test shots were filmed, the footage is now lost. It was planned to be entirely shot in long takes from the point of view of the narrator, Marlow, who would be played by Welles, his reflection would occasionally be seen in the window as his boat sailed down river. The project was abandoned because it could not be delivered on budget, and Citizen Kane (1941) was made instead.[6]: 30–33, 355–356 [7][8][9][10]
1940s
Santa
In 1941, Welles planned a film with his then partner, the Mexican actress Dolores del Río. Santa was adapted from the novel by Mexican writer Federico Gamboa. The film would have marked the debut of del Río in the Mexican cinema. Welles made a correction of the script in 13 extraordinary sequences. The high salary demanded by del Río stopped the project. In 1943, the film was finally completed with the settings of Welles, led by Norman Foster and starring Mexican actress Esther Fernández.[11]
Mexican Melodrama
Welles wrote an unproduced screenplay titled Mexican Melodrama, which was to have been a film adaptation based on Arthur Calder-Marshall's The Way to Santiago. Dolores del Río would have starred in the film as Elena Medina, "the most beautiful girl in the world," with Welles playing an American who becomes entangled in a mission to disrupt a Nazi plot to overthrow the Mexican government. Welles planned to shoot in Mexico City in 1941, but the Mexican government had to approve the story, and this never occurred.[11][12]
The Life of Christ
In 1941, Welles received the support of Bishop Fulton Sheen for a retelling of the life of Christ, to be set in the American West in the 1890s. After filming of Citizen Kane was complete,[13] Welles, Perry Ferguson, and Gregg Toland scouted locations in Baja California and Mexico. Welles wrote a screenplay with dialogue from the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. "Every word in the film was to be from the Bible—no original dialogue, but done as a sort of American primitive," Welles said, "set in the frontier country in the last century." The unrealized project was revisited by Welles in the 1950s, when he wrote a second unfilmed screenplay, to be shot in Egypt.[6]: 361–362 [14]
It's All True
Welles did not originally want to direct It's All True, a 1942 documentary about South America, but after its abandonment by RKO, he spent much of the 1940s attempting to buy the negative of his material from RKO, so that he could edit and release it in some form. The footage remained unseen in vaults for decades and was assumed lost. Over 50 years later, some (but not all) of the surviving material saw release in the 1993 documentary It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles.[15][2]
Lady Killer
In 1941, Welles intended to write and direct a "dramatized documentary", provisionally entitled Lady Killer, based on the story of French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru. He pitched the idea to Charlie Chaplin, who initially agreed to star in it, but later changed his mind. Instead, Chaplin bought the film rights and turned Welles' story into Monsieur Verdoux (1947).[2] The final film credits Chaplin with the script, "based on an idea by Orson Welles."[16]
Around the World in Eighty Days
After Welles's elaborate musical stage version of this Jules Verne novel, encompassing 38 different sets, went live in 1946, Welles shot some test footage in Morocco in 1947 for a film version. The footage was never edited, funding never came through, and Welles abandoned the project. Nine years later, the stage show's producer Mike Todd made his own award-winning film version of the book.[6]
Evidence
In 1947, Welles purchased the film rights to Isaac Asimov's science fiction short story "Evidence" for $250, with the intention to direct. Asimov thought that he would become famous from a film based on the story, but Welles never used the script.[17]
Cyrano de Bergerac
Welles spent around nine months around 1947–48 co-writing the screenplay for an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac along with Ben Hecht, a project Welles was assigned to direct for Alexander Korda. He began scouting for locations in Europe whilst filming Black Magic, but Korda was short of money, so sold the rights to Columbia Pictures, who eventually dismissed Welles from the project, and then sold the rights to United Artists, who in turn made a film version in 1950, which was not based on Welles's script.[6]: 106–108 [18][19][20]
Portrait of an Assassin
Welles worked on the script of Portrait of an Assassin with Charles Lederer, initially for Erich von Stroheim to direct, which ultimately was not used. According to Welles, he clashed with the film's producers, "They didn't use one word we wrote. But they used the story." Furthermore, he and Lederer received payment from "a black market producer who came to the Lancaster hotel with the money wrapped in newspaper."[21]
1950s
The Loves of d'Annunzio and Duse
Welles wrote this screenplay for
"The Tragedy of Lurs"
Welles had worked on a seventh episode of his travelogue series Around the World with Orson Welles entitled "The Tragedy of Lurs," which was not completed. The documentary was based on the controversial Dominici murder case in France, and contained interviews with many of the principals shortly after the trial. A version of the film, using Welles's footage and additional sound, was constructed by French filmmaker Christophe Cognet and integrated into his 52-minute documentary titled The Dominici Affair by Orson Welles (2000).[23][6]: 422
Moby Dick–Rehearsed
Tip on a Dead Jockey
Originally slated to be produced in 1955, Tip on a Dead Jockey first had Welles signed as director, though he would be replaced by Richard Thorpe.[25]
Don Quixote
As early as 1955, Welles began work on Don Quixote, initially a commission from CBS television. Welles expanded the film to feature length, developing the screenplay to take Quixote and Sancho Panza into the modern age. Filming began in 1957 and proceeded for several years until the death of actor Francisco Reiguera in 1969, who had played Quixote. Welles continued editing the film into the early 1970s. At the time of his death, the film remained largely a collection of footage in various states of editing. The project and, more important, Welles's conception of the project changed radically over time. A version Oja Kodar supervised, with help from Jess Franco, assistant director during production, was released in 1992 to poor reviews.[26] Frederick Muller, the film editor for The Trial, Chimes at Midnight, and the CBS Special Orson's Bag, worked on editing three reels of the original, unadulterated version. When asked in 2013 by a journalist of Time Out for his opinion, he said that he felt that if released without image re-editing but with the addition of "ad hoc" sound and music, it probably would have been rather successful.
1960s
Catch-22
In 1962, Welles first tried to purchase the rights to Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 to independently produce and direct, but was unsuccessful. He would end up being cast for the role of General Dreedle in the eventual 1970 adaptation, which was directed by Mike Nichols.[27]
Treasure Island
Welles wrote two screenplays for
The Deep
The Heroine
In the late 1960s, Welles attempted to make a short film titled The Heroine, which was to have been based on
Spirits of the Dead segments
The producers of Spirits of the Dead, a 1968 anthology film based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, announced in June 1967 that Welles would direct one segment based on both "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Cask of Amontillado" for the omnibus film. Welles withdrew in September 1967 and was replaced. The script, written in English by Welles and Oja Kodar, is kept in the Filmmuseum München collections at the Munich Film Archive.[34]
One Man Band
This
The Merchant of Venice
In 1969, Welles was given a TV commission to film a condensed adaptation of
1970s
The Other Side of the Wind
In 1970, Welles began shooting The Other Side of the Wind. The film relates the efforts of a film director (played by
Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
Welles admired Vladimir Nabokov's novel Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle and initiated a film project of the same title in collaboration with the author. Welles flew to Paris to discuss the project personally with Nabokov,[when?] because at that time the Russian author moved from America to Europe. Welles and Nabokov had a promising discussion, but the project was not finished.[47]
Orson Welles' Magic Show
Between the years of 1976 and 1985, Welles had worked on a television special that would showcase him performing various
Saint Jack
In 1978, Welles was lined up by his long-time protégé Peter Bogdanovich (who was then acting as Welles's de facto agent), to direct Saint Jack, an adaptation of Paul Theroux's 1973 novel about an American pimp in Singapore. Hugh Hefner and Bogdanovich's then-partner Cybill Shepherd were both attached to the project as producers, with Hefner providing finance through his Playboy productions. However, both Hefner and Shepherd became convinced that Bogdanovich himself would be a more commercially viable director than Welles and insisted that Bogdanovich take over. Since Bogdanovich was also in need of work after a series of box office flops, he agreed. When the film was finally made in 1979 by Bogdanovich and Hefner (but without Welles or Shepherd's participation), Welles felt betrayed and according to Bogdanovich the two "drifted apart a bit."[48]
Filming The Trial
After the success of his 1978 documentary Filming Othello made for West German television, and mostly consisting of a monolog to the camera, Welles began shooting scenes for this follow-up based on the production of his film The Trial, but never completed it.[36]: 253 Welles did however conduct an 80-minute question-and-answer session in 1981 with film students asking about the film. The footage was kept by Welles's cinematographer Gary Graver, who donated it to the Munich Film Museum, which then pieced it together with Welles's trailer for the film, into an 83-minute film which is occasionally screened at film festivals.[citation needed]
1980s
The Dreamers
In the 1980s, Welles attempted to make The Dreamers, which he co-wrote with Oja Kodar. Hal Ashby's production company Northstar was to have financed the project but backed out upon reading the script. Henry Jaglom also attempted to finance the project.[49]
Revenge
Ashby's company Northstar was also set to finance a Welles film based on Jim Harrison's novel Revenge, that was set to star Jack Nicholson.[50] Tony Scott would go on to direct the 1990 adaptation.[51]
The Big Brass Ring
Written by Welles with Oja Kodar, The Big Brass Ring was adapted and filmed by director George Hickenlooper in partnership with writer F. X. Feeney. Both the Welles script and the 1999 film center on a U.S. presidential hopeful in his 40s, his elderly mentor—a former candidate for the Presidency, brought low by homosexual scandal—and the Italian journalist probing for the truth of the relationship between these men. During the last years of his life, Welles struggled to get financing for the planned film, and his efforts to cast a star as the main character were unsuccessful. Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Paul Newman turned down the role for various reasons.[citation needed]
The Cradle Will Rock
In 1984, Welles wrote the screenplay for a film he planned to direct, an autobiographical drama about the 1937 staging of The Cradle Will Rock.[52]: 157–159 Rupert Everett was slated to play the young Welles. However, Welles was unable to acquire funding.[53] Tim Robbins wrote and directed a 1999 historical drama film that fictionalizes the true events.[54]: 387–388
King Lear
At the time of his death, Welles was in talks with a French production company to direct a film version of the Shakespeare play King Lear, in which he would also play the title role.[55]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c Morris, Brogan (July 25, 2018). "The 10 best films Orson Welles nearly made". British Film Institute. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ Ebiri, Bilge (November 12, 2018). "A Guide to Orson Welles's Other Unfinished Movies". Vulture.com. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ McKenna, Josephine (August 8, 2013). "Unfinished Orson Welles film found in Italy". Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 25, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
- ^ "Orson Welles' Too Much Johnson: A unique film & live theater event". filmforum.org. Film Forum. February 5, 2015. Archived from the original on January 27, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-06-016616-8.
- ^ Bailey, Jason (May 6, 2015). "How Orson Welles Almost Made His Film Debut With an Innovative 'Heart of Darkness' Adaptation". Flavorwire. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ Everett, Todd (March 6, 1994). "Heart of Darkness". Variety. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ Owchar, Nick (December 7, 2008). "Oh, to fail like Orson Welles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ Nissim, Mayer (October 22, 2015). "Apocalypse Wow: Hear James McAvoy in an Orson Welles take of Conrad's Heart of Darkness". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Ramón (1997), vol. 1, p. 59
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- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (October 22, 1993). "It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles". jonathanrosenbaum.net. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
- ^ "Charlie Chaplin: Filming Monsieur Verdoux". www.charliechaplin.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ Asimov, Isaac (1972). The Early Asimov. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. pp. 466–470.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra (November 11, 1990). "FILM; Who Knew How To Make The Nose New?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
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- ^ "Unproduced and Unfinished Films: An Ongoing Film Comment project". Film Comment. No. May-June 2012.
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- ^ "See also the relevant entries for 'Moby Dick' in Kenneth Williams autobiography Just Williams". Str.org.uk. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
- ^ Pryor, Thomas M. (October 3, 1956). "PRODUCERS STUDY NEW CAMERA IDEA: Film and TV Officials View Electronicam, Du Mont's Dual Purpose Instrument Welles to Direct at M-G-M". The New York Times. p. 29.
- ^ Don Quixote – Movie Reviews, archived from the original on April 18, 2019, retrieved November 14, 2019
- ^ "AFI|Catalog - Catch-22". AFI Catalog. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ "Lost treasure: Orson Welles aborted 'Treasure Island'". Wellesnet. September 6, 2016. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ Treasure Island, archived from the original on July 1, 2019, retrieved November 14, 2019
- ^ Guthrie, Luna (August 25, 2023). "This Star-Studded Thriller Began as an Orson Welles Passion Project". Collider. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- ^ "Orson Welles the Unknown – Harvard Film Archive". hcl.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ^ AdoroCinema. "Exclusivo: Oja Kodar revela segredos de Orson Welles em Mostra do centenário do diretor". AdoroCinema. Archived from the original on September 13, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
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- ^ French, Lawrence (August 30, 2009). "Cinefantastique (August 30, 2009)". Cinefantastiqueonline.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
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