Othello
Short description
Orson Welles directs and stars in this adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy. Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has secretly married Desdemona, the daughter of a senator. His ensign Iago, passed over for promotion and nursing a private grudge, sets out to destroy him. Iago plants the suspicion that Desdemona has been unfaithful with the young captain Cassio, and the false evidence he arranges turns Othello's love into a jealousy that ends in disaster. The film departs from a straightforward staging of the play, unfolding its story in a non-linear way and opening with the funerals of Othello and Desdemona before working back through the events that led there.
Welles takes the title role opposite Micheál Mac Liammóir as Iago, with Robert Coote, Suzanne Cloutier, Hilton Edwards and Nicholas Bruce in supporting parts. He also produced and co-wrote the screenplay with Jean Sacha. The film followed Macbeth in the sequence of features Welles had directed, which had begun with Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons.
Produced across Italy, Morocco, the United States and France, the film runs 93 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.5 from around 10,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.4 from roughly 220 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- It took three years to create the film. To pay the bills, Orson Welles (1915-1985) appeared in supporting roles in other films, notably in Henry Hathaway's (1898-1985) melodrama 'The Black Rose' (1950). During filming with Hathaway, he regularly pilfered costumes and equipment from the set for use in his own film, which greatly irritated the director.
- In 1992, Wells' daughter Beatrice spent over $1 million restoring the film. The picture quality was improved, the sound was re-recorded, and new sound effects were added.
- The murder of Rodrigo in the Turkish baths was shown this way because the costumes prepared for filming were confiscated due to debts.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
