Episode 393: F FOR FAKE (1973) with Tony Wagner

We’re no strangers to Orson Welles on this here podcast… Or are we? Welles first-timer* Tony Wagner returns for a doozy documentary/film/essay from the inimitable auteur himself!

Orson Welles was hired to direct a documentary his friend had filmed on an art forger. But Welles, mired in the endless production of what would become his posthumous THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018), couldn’t let it go there. His version expands the scope to include the forger’s biographer, the forger’s biographer’s forgeries, Howard Hughes, and a large-scale interrogation “about trickery, fraud, and lies.”

With Tony, we’re giving F FOR FAKE the T for Trylove treatment, discussing the criticism of art criticism on display, whether or not it’s possible to REALLY criticize this movie, its similarities to YouTube essay culture, and more.

*Tony has seen TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986).

Find Tony…

On Twitter at @tonydwagner

On Letterboxd at @tonydwagner

On Trylove episodes about ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016), THE KEEP (1983)

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