Coming to theatres and to Netflix tomorrow, Friday, November 2:
THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD
Director:
Morgan Neville
Premiere:
Venice 2018
Select Festivals:
Telluride, Camden, New York, Hamptons, London, Chicago
About:
The story behind Orson Welles’ unfinished (until recently) would-be magnum opus, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.
Neville’s film is not concerned with the posthumous completion of Welles’ film enabled by Netflix, though it of course functions as a fascinating companion. In many ways, this playful documentary is more expansive in its scope than simply considering WIND, taking on Welles’ later years as a whole, and offering insight into the by-then faded auteur’s idiosyncratic creative process. While Neville’s choice to frame the proceedings with a strange Alan Cumming sequence is a misstep, the core of the project is fascinating, utilizing footage from WIND as well as other Welles’ films and filmed appearances, supplemented by a chorus of voiceover commentary, to explore the director’s frustrated, stop-and-start attempts at pulling together his comeback film, a meta-commentary on filmmaking starring John Huston as a barely-disguised Wellesian doppelgänger, despite Welles’ statements to the contrary. Neville’s interview subjects don’t always agree, but they present the viewer with much food for thought about the troubled production, Welles’ challenges with financing, and an undercurrent of betrayal both in the meta aspects within his unfinished film and within its own creation – by Welles and by others.
what (not) to doc 