For cinephiles this is a special day indeed. The legendary Orson Welles never finished his last film, The Other Side of the Wind, which he began work on in 1970. Over six years he attempted to complete it but was never able to make a sustained effort due to financial problems. Six years later the whole thing was shut down for good, and ever since we’ve been hearing of efforts to complete and release it. While his protege and friend Peter Bogdanovich led those efforts for years, it was the arrival of Netflix that helped put it over the top. And now 48 years after it started, the film finally has a trailer and a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
It was the continued efforts of Netflix along with producers Frank Marshall and Filip Jan Rymsza who made this happen. The film stars Bogdanovich, John Huston, Oja Kodar, Robert Random and Susan Strasberg, centering on a director who returns to Hollywood after a years-long exile in Europe, only to find it is no longer the place he once knew.
Netflix has given the film a brand new score by Oscar winner Michel Legrand, and will release it in select theaters and streaming on November 2nd.
