Final film from Orson Welles close to completion

Movie legend Orson Welles' final film The Other Side of the Wind is set to hit cinemas almost 50 years after the director started work on the project.

Film bosses have recruited key post-production personnel to complete the iconic Citizen Kane moviemaker's unfinished drama, which he started in 1970 from a script he co-wrote with Oja Kodar. The film features an all-star cast that includes John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Kodar, Lilli Palmer and Cameron Mitchell.

Welles died in 1985 before he could finish the movie, and now Academy Award winners Bob Murawski and Scott Millan, who have signed on as editor and sound mixer respectively, will be applying their technical skills to wrap up the project under the direction of post-production supervisor Ruth Hasty.

Murawski is over the moon with his new gig, telling the outlet he views the job as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It’s a surreal honor to be working on a ‘new’ movie directed by the legendary Orson Welles, and starring filmmaking giants John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich,” he wrote in a statement to Variety. “I feel The Other Side of the Wind is the most important film project happening in the world right now, and I am thrilled, and humbled, to be part of it.”

Murawski picked up an Oscar for his work on The Hurt Locker and he has also worked on Spider-Man franchise blockbusters, while sound mixer Millan, who earned his four Academy Awards for his efforts on Apollo 13, Gladiator, Ray, and The Bourne Ultimatum, is equally honoured by his new post.

“Orson Welles said, ‘I believe sound is the first human sense, not the eye'. I could not agree more... I hope that together we will recapture the seductive rhythms of one of our greatest filmmakers," he said.

Bosses at streaming service Netflix plan to debut the picture next year (18).