Working with Orson Welles (1993)

Sub-Genres - Biography, Film & Television History  |   Run Time - 94 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Nick Sambides, Jr.

It is rumored that Orson Welles spent the last 25 years doing little more than wine commercials and appearing on the Johnny Carson Show. Working With Orson Welles disproves that. It's a documentary done by Welles' cameraman Gary Graver that focuses on the last 15 years of the great director's life, particularly on his near-mythic production, The Other Side of the Wind. Actors Peter Jason, Stacy Keach, Susan Strasberg, Cameron Mitchell, and Oja Kodar and director Frank Marshall talk about their work on that never-completed film. Scenes of the film taken from The American Film Institute Life Achievement Awards: Orson Welles, and several tests Graver shot of Welles are among the seldom-seen work that is shown. Parts of other films Graver and Welles worked on, F for Fake and Filming Othello, are also shown. Welles' relentless quest for spontaneity in his films, and other aspects of his methods, are discussed in detail, as is his penchant for occasionally outrageous behavior.

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anecdotes, behind-the-scenes, cameraman, career-retrospective, cinematography, film-clips, film-director, filmmaker, interview, visionary