''They'll Love Me When I'm Dead'' is a 2018 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
, directed by
Morgan Neville
Morgan Neville (born October 10, 1967) is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film ''20 Feet from Stardom'' won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. ...
. It documents the ill-fated production of ''
The Other Side of the Wind
''The Other Side of the Wind'' is a 2018 satirical drama film, directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Orson Welles, and posthumously released in 2018 after forty-eight years in development. The film stars John Huston, Bob Random, Pe ...
'', directed by
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
. The film had its world premiere at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
on August 30, 2018. It was released on November 2, 2018, by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
.
Cast
*
Alan Cumming (narrator)
*
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian.
One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...
*Steve Ecclesine
*Howard Grossman
*
Danny Huston
Daniel Sallis Huston (born May 14, 1962) is an Italian-born American actor and film director. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and the half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston.
He is known for hi ...
*
Oja Kodar
Oja Kodar ( ; born Olga Palinkaš; 1941) is a Croatian actress, screenwriter and director known as Orson Welles's romantic partner during the later years of his life.
Personal life
Olga Palinkaš was born in Zagreb to a Hungarian father and ...
*
Rich Little
Richard Caruthers Little (born November 26, 1938) is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. Sometimes known as the "Man of a Thousand Voices", Little has recorded nine comedy albums and made numerous television appearances, including ...
*
Frank Marshall
*
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama '' The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges ...
*
Beatrice Welles
*
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
Production
In May 2017, it was announced
Morgan Neville
Morgan Neville (born October 10, 1967) is an American film producer, director and writer. His acclaimed film ''20 Feet from Stardom'' won him the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014 as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Film. ...
would direct a documentary film on the making of the
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
' film ''
The Other Side of the Wind
''The Other Side of the Wind'' is a 2018 satirical drama film, directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Orson Welles, and posthumously released in 2018 after forty-eight years in development. The film stars John Huston, Bob Random, Pe ...
''. It was produced by Neville,
Josh Karp, Korelan Matteson and
Filip Jan Rymsza.
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
distributed the film and it debuted on the streaming service on November 2, 2018.
Release
The documentary had its premieres at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
and
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022.
History
First held on 30 August 1974, t ...
on August 30, 2018. It was later screened at
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it ...
in October 2018. On November 1, 2018, it opened SFFILM's Doc Stories Film Series in San Francisco.
''They'll Love Me When I'm Dead'', which takes its name from a prophetic comment Welles made to Peter Bogdanovich, centers on Welles' return to the U.S. in the early 1970s to shoot his ill-fated Hollywood comeback film. The documentary concludes with his death in October 1985. "Welles is the protagonist of my documentary," Neville said. "
'The Other Side of the Wind''is so autobiographical, even though he said it was not."
Critical reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews with an average rating of . The website's critic consensus reads: "''They'll Love Me When I'm Dead'' opens an entertaining window into the creative process – and late-period professional travails – of a brilliant filmmaker."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gives the film a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
References
External links
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{{Orson Welles
2018 films
American documentary films
Films directed by Morgan Neville
Netflix original documentary films
Documentary films about Orson Welles
Documentary films about films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films