Movie Review: They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead **** / *****

Directed by: Morgan Neville.

 

Morgan Neville’s They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead was made by Netflix to coincide with the release of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, as it tells the story of what Welles and company went through making the film itself, and what others had to do to finally finish the film decades later. If that sounds like the kind of dull, “making of” doc territory that used to be on practically every DVD, back in the good old’ days of 10 years ago, you’re not wrong. And yet, Neville’s apparent enthusiasm for the project – and the enthusiasm of everyone interviewed in the film about Welles, and their experiences with him, is so evident, and the story of making the film so fascinating, that it becomes more than the standard fare it probably should have been. It helps, of course, that Welles has been dead for more than 30 years now, so the hurt feelings of some of the participants have had time to heal, and people have had times to at least except the sacrifices they made, even if they were never reciprocated by Welles. The film paints a portrait of Welles as a difficult genius – but one that everyone wanted to work hard to please.

 

First and foremost, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead is a treasure trove of footage of Welles himself – as a jokes with reporters when trying to describe his project, being jovial and happy when describing it – which if you’ve seen the finished product (and if you’ve haven’t, why the hell are you watching this) is odd because of how dark that film is. It’s got a lot of footage from the film itself – the hours and hours of footage not used in the film – footage of Peter Bogdanovich playing a different character than he ultimately plays in the film, and Rich Little playing the role Bogdanovich played (which is probably for the best – why hire Rich Little to do a Bogdanovich impression, when you can just hire Bogdanovich?). Everyone who survived that shoot, and are still around to talk about it, are here in interviews as well – many with fascinating stories about those who haven’t. The sad story of cinematographer Gary Graver for instance, who cold called Welles one day, and ended up being his go-to cameraman for years, never making any money (he also made A LOT of porn to pay the bills) will remind those who has seen Filmworker of Leon Vitali, who did everything Kubrick asked him to for decades – with little to show for it.

 

The interviews with those involved in the production are all fascinating. Bogdanovich is probably the most interesting – he was in many ways very close with Welles, who even moved into his house and wouldn’t leave for months on end at one point, but who also had a falling out of sorts with Welles, who viewed him in many ways as yet another person who betrayed Welles. While many of those wounds have healed over the years for Bogdanovich – he still speaks of Welles with sadness – of seeing him and Burt Reynolds on TV making fun him, and writing Welles a note saying “I tuned in last night to see what you really think of me, and I guess I now know” to which Welles sent him back two letters – one apologizing for betraying their friendship, and another saying Bogdanovich brought it on himself – he could choose which to believe.

 

The film is ultimately fascinating in its portrait of Welles, because like the film it is about, this film itself is full of contradictions – here in the form of different memories and opinions on Welles. One person things Welles never wanted to finish the film – had he wanted to, he would have. He is shouted down by others. Bogdanovich tells the story of the film’s title – saying Welles said it to him once, but everyone else disagrees – saying Welles never would have said it.

 

I do think that we are past the days when we can view asshole geniuses through an uncomplicated lens – without wondering about the human costs associated with geniuses demanding everyone sacrifice themselves at the altar of their genius. But while you could argue that about Welles, the portrait that really comes across of him here is as someone everyone was willing to follow everywhere – whose enthusiasm was infectious, and who everyone willingly, would do whatever he wanted.