LIFE WITH ORSON WELLES: THE MAN BEHIND THE LEGEND

Docu-Series (Limited)

• Teaser Trailer & Inspirations

• Concept & Series

• Director’s Statement

• Photo Album

•  Setting & Food

In the style of Jon Favreau’s “Dinner for Five,” this fly-on-the-wall documentary series is a collection of casual but revealing dinner conversations between Beatrice Welles (Orson Welles’s daughter) and filmmaker Dax Phelan, during which the two close friends talk with are revolving door of special guests about Orson Welles and his work, Beatrice’s unique life and upbringing, and, best of all, the private side of Orson Welles that few people ever got to see or know.

TEASER TRAILER & INSPIRATIONS

CONCEPT

By any measure, Orson Welles (1915-1985) was the last true Renaissance man of the 20th Century. From innovative radio works like “The War of the Worlds” to his cinematic masterpieces like “Citizen Kane,” “The Magnificent Ambersons,” “Touch of Evil,” and “Chimes at Midnight,” Welles was a master storyteller and one of the great artists of our time. From his appearance on the Irish stage at the age of sixteen, Welles lived most of his life in the public eye and much has been written about his work. But what was he like in private?

Life with Orson Welles: The Man Behind the Legend, the brainchild of Welles’s daughter, Beatrice, and filmmaker Dax Phelan (co-producer of Welles’s final film, “The Other Side of the Wind”), will provide Beatrice’s special dinner guests and audiences around the world with a rare glimpse into the private life of Orson Welles through never-before-heard personal stories and insights from the one person who knew him best.

SERIES

In each episode, we will open on Los Angeles-based filmmaker Dax Phelan as he receives a phone call from Beatrice Welles confirming the menu and time for their usual Friday evening dinner date. “Osso buco at seven,” she might say. We follow Phelan as he selects a bottle of wine to pair with the osso buco and then travels across town to Welles’s home in Venice. As Welles prepares dinner using one of her own recipes and Phelan lets the wine breathe, the two close friends have an aperitif, enjoy appetizers, and catch up on each other’s lives.

When dinner is ready, they sit down at Welles’s dinner table, tuck into the homemade Italian meal (each episode will feature a different recipe), and chat long into the night about a variety of subjects, including her father and his work, the films she and her father made together, her unique life and upbringing, and the private side of her father that few people ever got to see or know.

The series will not be done in a traditional interview style and there will be no predetermined questions of any kind. Rather, Phelan, Welles, and their special guests will be having a simple conversation that will unfold completely naturally over the course of the evening. Never-before-heard stories will abound. Forget what you think you know because the more you learn about the man behind the legend, the better his story gets.

PERSONALITIES

Beatrice Giuditta Welles (also known as Beatrice Mori di Gerfalco Welles) was born in Manhattan on November 13, 1955 to Orson Welles and his third wife, Paola Mori. A countess from an Italian noble family that dates back to 400 AD, Welles was named after her paternal grandmother, concert pianist Beatrice Ives Welles. She was baptized at the Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, with Frank Sinatra and Mercedes McCambridge serving as godparents.

Raised and educated in Europe with private tutors, Welles spent her childhood in close company of her parents. She appeared on stage at the age of five in an Irish stage production of “Chimes at Midnight” and later in the 1966 film of the same name. Her father’s film, “The Immortal Story” (1968), was shot at the family’s home in Spain and Welles spent countless hours with her father in the editing room.

A severe injury during her teenage years ended Welles’s hopes for an equestrian career. Turning to modeling, she appeared in layouts for Vogue and did runway work in Paris, Milan, London, and New York, wearing the clothes of Valentino, Halston, and Chanel.

Influenced by her association with makeup icons Kevin Aucoin and Barbara Daly, Welles developed her own line of cosmetics and counted Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Oprah Winfrey among her clients. She also created a line of designer handbags and jewelry sold exclusively through the Goldenstein Gallery in Sedona, Arizona.

In addition to managing the Orson Welles estate, Welles is a passionate animal rights crusader and helped to establish one of the first low-cost spaying and neutering clinics in the United States.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

My proposed docu-series, Life with Orson Welles: The Man Behind the Legend, will enable audiences to participate in my Friday night dinners with Beatrice and feel as if they’re not just flies on the wall, but actually sitting at the table with us. To achieve this stylistically, the show will draw inspiration from several sources, links to which are listed below. The first inspiration is Martin Scorsese’s “Italianamerican” (1974), a documentary short featuring Scorsese’s parents, Catherine and Charles. In this deeply personal gem of a film, the Scorseses talk about their experiences as Italian immigrants in New York City while having dinner in their cramped apartment on Elizabeth Street. There’s even a winning scene where Catherine shows Scorsese how to cook her recipe for meatballs – a recipe that Scorsese humorously includes to great effect in the end credits of the film. Few films achieve such intimacy, frankness, and old-world charm.

The second inspiration is “Clive James Meets Roman Polanski” (1983), an hour-long TV special, in which Clive James travels to Paris to interview Roman Polanski. The interview is conducted over a long lunch of several courses in a French restaurant where James and Polanski are the only diners. The two men discuss Polanski’s childhood in the Warsaw ghetto, his mother’s death at Auschwitz, his filmmaking career, his tragic marriage to Sharon Tate, and even his arrest for sexual assault. To me, this show works because, as an audience member, you truly feel as if you’re a third person sitting at the table, because of the relaxed way the interview unfolds, and because neither participant appears to be shying away from asking the difficult questions or answering them.

The third inspiration is Jon Favreau’s “Dinner for Five” (2001-2005), a talk show in which Favreau and a revolving guest list of celebrities eat, drink, and talk. Like “Clive James Meets Roman Polanski,” this is a multi-camera show where long lenses are used, in order to ensure that the subjects aren’t self-conscious in any way. Just as importantly, there are no pre-arranged questions; rather, the conversation unfolds completely naturally. Finally, the two-hour conversation is ultimately edited down into a 25-minute episode, always engaging, never dragging.

The opening and closing credits of each episode will feature Viennese composer Anton Karas’s charming and immortal little tune, ‘The Third Man Theme.’ Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no doubt that, if we apply the best techniques of these past works to my concept, we are sure to cook up a dish that will have cineastes salivating around the world.

Dax Phelan

Los Angeles, California

SETTING

FOOD

For the episodes filmed at Beatrice’s home, we will feature Beatrice’s favorite family recipes along with the proper wine pairing. (We plan to engage Master Sommelier Raj Parr to select the wines on an episode-by-episode basis.) Potential entrées include: