Prior to his death in 1985, Orson Welles and his girlfriend, frequent collaborator, Oja Kodar (“F For Fake”) began working on the screenplay “Da Capo” (a musical term meaning “from the start”) which eventually became known as “The Dreamers.” Based on two stories — “The Dreamers” and “Echoes” — from the 1934 novel “Seven Gothic Tales” by Isak Dinesen, they created one of Welles’ most personal works. Welles had often dreamed of adapting the writer’s work (only once achieving it with Dinesen’s “The Immortal Story” for French TV) but found that funding was not as forthcoming as he’d hoped. When several companies turned down the picture between its completion in 1980, Welles moved on to “The Big Brass Ring” and eventually, his sad demise.
Word from the Production Weekly twitter feed brings news of a potential reinvigoration of interest in the film. Gerard Corbiau, a Belgian director behind such works as 1994’s “Farinelli” and 2000’s “Le Roi Danse,” is said to be attached. Corbiau has been largely absent from the world of film since 2000, despite being nominated for the Foreign Language Film Oscar twice — in 1987 (“Le maître de musique”) and 1984 (“Farinelli”). He has been attached to many films since then, all seemingly within his area of interest — period drama and music — but most importantly, the adaption of “Le Diable Au Corps” which has a 2010 release date, although little has been heard of the opera film since early 2009.
The Welles/Kodar screenplay tells the story of an opera singer who loses her voice in a fire and decides to travel the world anonymously. When they couldn’t find funding for the film, Welles and Kodar shot short test reels of themselves (Kodar as Pellegrina, the opera singer, Welles as Marcus Kleek, a narrator) partly around Welles’ home. The footage still exists and can be seen on the 1973 Criterion release of “F For Fake.” The present day interpretation casts Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen and Cliff Curtis. We’re assuming Sarandon plays Pellegrina, while Sheen plays Kleek but as of yet, no firm casting details are known.
The screenplay, as mentioned earlier, was one of Welles’ most personal works and last surviving unfilmed projects. The idea of wandering, of becoming someone else, of independence seemed particularly poignant to Welles at that point. The original title, “Da Capo,” a dual reference to the musicality of the lead role and the idea of “starting over” anew. Whilst fans of intelligent cinema should be excited at the prospect of unseen Welles on screen, this urge must also be weighted against the prospect of ruining a dead man’s reputation with inconsiderate adaptation. A certain two-letter-titled film released posthumously by Steven Spielberg springs to mind. And with another of Kubrick’s unfilmed projects making its way to the screen right now, it seems there’s more to worry about than ever. — John Fellows
