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"The Big Brass Ring" (1982, directed and written by Orson Welles.) Orson Welles' last film, a passionate examination of the American Dream as revealed through the relationship between an expatriated New Deal liberal (Welles) and his protege (name of superstar) who is about to run for President, is the perfect bookend for a career that began with the 1941 masterpiece "Citizen Kane."
That paragraph would have made a nice insertion in Steven Scheuer's annual "Movies on TV" guide. If Welles' life had been a movie script, his career would have ended with a classic.
The problem is, "The Big Brass Ring" was never made. Welles, who died Thursday at 70, wrote it. Producer Arnan Milchan said he'd put up the $8 million needed to make it. Several studios said they'd distribute it. And Welles, in an evening of sublime optimism five years ago, ordered several magnums of Cristal champagne at Ma Maison and toasted it.
But then, one by one, the seven major American stars Welles approached about playing his protege-a job that would have paid $2 million for eight weeks of work-turned him down.
"We needed one major star to get the movie made," says Henry Jaglom, 44, Welles' close friend and partner for the last few years. "It never dawned on us that we couldn't get one. Everyone had expressed this great hope that they would someday work with Orson. Then they got the chance and said, `No.'
"They hurt him very badly," Jaglom says. "In the 15 years I knew him, that hurt him more than anything."
Jaglom, who says he tape-recorded every extended conversation he had with Welles during the last six years, won't name the seven actors, but he says he has careful notes of the reasons each one gave.
-One thought that the homosexual subtext of the story (the mentor, to be played by Welles, was homosexual) would be bad for his image.
-One said he couldn't work for less than $4 million, his going fee, lest word get around that he had reduced his price.
-One said he would do it only if he could rewrite Welles' script, produce the film and have final cut.
-One admitted that he had political ambitions of his own and didn't...