Production History
In 1979, Welles and Oja Kodar, the Croatian actress and writer who was Welles' companion in his later years, collaborated on a screenplay based on two stories from Karen Blixen, The Dreamers and Echoes. Henry Jaglom, the U.S. filmmaker who directed Welles in the 1971 feature A Safe Place, made inquiries to potential investors to back this project, which was originally called Da Capo. Northstar Productions, a company created by filmmaker Hal Ashby, provided Welles with funding to complete the script, but declined to pursue the project after reading the completed script.
Welles shot 20 minutes of 35mm footage based on the screenplay, using his Hollywood home as the set for the film.
It remains unclear whether Welles intended the footage to be used strictly as a test reel to pique the interest of potential investors, or whether Welles planned to complete production of the screenplay. Kodar has stated that Welles was prepared to go forward with a full production after the screenplay was rejected by the BBC and Miramax, but cinematographer Gary Graver, who shot the footage, has stated Welles never intended to self-finance the film and would not have gone further on the project without outside financing.
Read more about this topic: The Dreamers (unfinished Film)
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