| The Deep | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Orson Welles |
| Screenplay by | Orson Welles |
| Based on | Dead Calm byCharles Williams |
| Produced by | Orson Welles |
| Starring | Michael Bryant Laurence Harvey Oja Kodar Jeanne Moreau Orson Welles |
| Cinematography | Willy Kurant Ivica Rajkovic |
| Language | English |
The Deep is anunfinished film directed byOrson Welles, based onCharles Williams's novelDead Calm (1963), which was later adapted as aneponymous 1989 film. Welles produced and wroteThe Deep, as well as played the role of Russ Brewer oppositeJeanne Moreau andLaurence Harvey.
Welles worked on the film from 1966 to 1969. The film is incomplete; several major scenes were never shot, and portions of the soundtrack remain unrecorded. The originalnegative has been lost, and the film exists in twowork prints, one inblack and white and the other incolor (the way the film was intended to be shown).[1]
Welles intended the film to be a less personal, more commercially viable project than his past efforts, saying ofThe Deep: "My hope is that it won’t be anart-house movie. I hope it’s the kind of movie I enjoy seeing myself. I felt it was high time to show that we could make some money."[2]Peter O'Toole recalls that he was approached by Welles to play the lead in the film and remembersThe Deep as "a script that I thought was beautiful."[3]
The film was shot off the coast ofYugoslavia between 1966 and 1969. It was photographed in color byBelgiancinematographerWilly Kurant, who also shotThe Immortal Story for Welles.[1]
The production was plagued by financial and technical problems. As work on the film became more sporadic and difficult, Welles became increasingly withdrawn.[1] Amongst the unshot scenes was an explosion that would have formed the film's climax.
Although the production was deeply troubled, many of the people involved have spoken highly of the film, including leadJeanne Moreau, who in 2000 looked back on the film as "a fantastic experience",[1] noting that "the only disastrous thing was that later on, the film disappeared."[1]
Welles struggled to finish the film after production effectively halted in 1969. He editedtrailers and short scenes to help secure financing, and at one point contactedCharlton Heston about recordingvoice-over narration.[1]
In 1973, lead actorLaurence Harvey died, effectively ending any hope for Welles of finishing the picture. The novelDead Calm was eventually adapted to film in 1989 asDead Calm starringNicole Kidman,Sam Neill, andBilly Zane.
Because the originalnegative has been lost,[1] the only extant versions of the film are twowork prints, one incolor (as the film was meant to be shown), and the other inblack and white. TheMunich Film Museum later created a version using these elements.
Because production had never finished, the film never enteredpost-production, and therefore the surviving versions of the film feature no music, and they use rough audio which Welles planned onre-dubbing later. Welles even dubbed in some actors' lines himself while editing the film, and this can be heard in the current version. There are plans to "complete" the film usingsubtitles orintertitles to replace or explain the missing scenes.[1]
Footage fromThe Deep is included in the documentaryOrson Welles: One-Man Band (1995), which is included as a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Welles'smockumentaryF for Fake.