A campaign to restore Orson Welles’ final film has been plunged into delay and acrimony following reports that the late Hollywood legend’s long-term partner is refusing to give up the negatives.

Donors to the crowdfunding campaign to restore The Other Side of the Wind have begun to ask for their money back, according to the New York Post. A total of $406,605 (£288,577) was raised towards completing the movie, which was shot by Welles between 1970 and 1976 but remained unfinished upon his death in 1985. Among the campaign’s high-profile backers are JJ Abrams, Clint Eastwood, Steven Soderbergh, Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola.

The legendary lost movie was originally due to be completed in time for the Citizen Kane director’s 100th birthday on 6 May 2015, with Peter Bogdanovich overseeing the new edit. But Bogdanovich, who also features in the film, last week told France’s Le Monde that he did not know when the work would be completed.



“I am supposed to supervise the editing of the film,” said the director, who was asked by Welles to finish it in the event of his death. “I keep being told ‘10 days, maybe two weeks, we should have it all wrapped up’. I have been hearing that for a long time, but it is possible that one day I will be surprised and they will really have everything wrapped up and we can go to work.”

The New York Post cites “unconfirmed reports” that the negatives for The Other Side of the Wind are still being held by Croatian actor Oja Kodar, who was Welles’ companion from the early 1960s until his death (though the film-maker did not leave his third wife Paola Mori, whom he married in 1955).

Kodar, 75, told the New York Times two years ago that she was ready to sign the contract to finally bring the film to the big screen. She also appears in The Other Side of the Wind, a self-reflexive drama starring John Huston as an obsessive veteran film-maker struggling to complete his final movie despite the collapse of the Hollywood studio system and the rise of a new wave of younger directors. Other cast members include Bob Random, Susan Strasberg, Joseph McBride, Lilli Palmer and a young Dennis Hopper.

The crowdfunding campaign was launched on Indiegogo after efforts to secure financing fell through. Some donors have now expressed anger that The Other Side of the Wind remains unfinished, and that they have not been updated on progress by campaign organisers.

Donor Jérôme Stavroguine on the Indiegogo campaign page said: “More than $400,000 disappeared with the promises of finishing a masterpiece. What can we do in order to get a refund and report this to Indiegogo?”

A spokesperson for Indiegogo told the New York Post that it had only received five requests for a refund, and had referred donors to the campaign’s organisers. Fan site Wellesnet reports that Netflix is now negotiating to fund the film’s completion, having made a $5m offer that also includes cash for a making-of documentary. However, negotiations over remuneration for the holder of the rights appear to be ongoing.

Kodar’s nephew Sasha Welles, who has been negotiating on behalf of his aunt, told Wellesnet: “For decades we have been optimistic, otherwise we wouldn’t be trying for so long to get this film released. How optimistic should we be about this particular deal? Hard to tell.

“All in all, I am not so optimistic, since they keep on chiseling away from our old agreement. Every time I give in to something they want, they come up with something else. This keeps going on and on and I don’t know where the end is.”