Even Orson Welles Is Getting a Netflix Deal

Orson Welles—the legendary director behind famous masterworks like Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, and The Lady from Shanghai—died back in 1985 before he could complete his final film, The Other Side of the Wind. Now, after decades and various failed attempts at getting it made, the movie has been dragged out of the shadows and slated for a release on Netflix, Wellesnet reports.

Welles shot and directed The Other Side of the Wind in the 70s, but financial and legal woes kept him from completing it. The 1,083 reels of raw footage from the work—a semi-autobiographical account of an elderly director struggling to make a comeback during the advent of a new era in Hollywood—have sat dormant in a French film lab for decades.

"Like so many others who grew up worshipping the craft and vision of Orson Welles, this is a dream come true," Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. "The promise of being able to bring to the world this unfinished work of Welles's, with his true artistic intention intact, is a point of pride for me and for Netflix."

Before Welles died, he reportedly asked director Peter Bogdanovich—who also co-stars in the film—to make sure it was made. Bogdanovich will now consult on editing the project, which is being produced by Frank Marshall and Filip Jan Rymsza—who obtained the rights to film from Welles's daughters. The three have tried to put together enough cash and sort out distribution rights for years, according to the New York Times. After talking with Netflix for about a year and a half on the logistics, they've now managed to finalize a deal.

"I can't quite believe it, but after 40 years of trying, I am so very grateful for the passion and perseverance from Netflix that has enabled us to, at long last, finally get into the cutting room to finish Orson's last picture," Marshall, one of the film's original line editors, said in a statement.

All the details on just how Netflix plans to release the avant-garde film haven't yet surfaced, and Rymsza told the Times there are still features of the deal that have yet to be announced. Although the hundreds of reels have been pulled out of storage and flown to LA to be digitized, part of the contract calls for a 35mm cut of the final product—which means you could see this thing in a theater near you, for the first time, more than 40 years after it was first shot.

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