Orson Welles

Because Welles had a large capacity for biting off more than he could chew, unfinished projects were regular occurrences. Of course, his film career began with two false starts before Citizen Kane , so he may have found unfinished projects to be a good-luck charm. One that grew to gargantuan proportions was The Other Side of the Wind. Kane conceived of the film in 1963 as a tool to bring him back to prominence as a filmmaker. The audacious storyline centered around a film director named Jake Hannaford who’d been in Europe for years and returns to Hollywood to make a cynical film full of sex and violence. The film would contain a big party scene at a mansion, attended by members of the media. Various stars who appeared in footage of the unreleased film were John Huston (playing Hannaford), Marlene Dietrich, Norman Foster, Edmond O’Brien and Dennis Hopper. Author Joseph McBride gives a pithy and humorous summary of problems the sprawling project had. He was given a role in