They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead is a backstage pass to artistic obsession at its most grand, following Orson Welles in his final, all-or-nothing attempt to wrestle one more masterpiece into existence. Morgan Neville shapes a story that’s as entertaining as it is illuminating, capturing the intoxicating mix of charisma, chaos, and sheer audacity that surrounded The Other Side of the Wind without turning it into a dry history lesson. With vivid firsthand voices like Peter Bogdanovich and Oja Kodar, it becomes a rich, insightful portrait of how brilliance can collide with money, ego, and time. If you’re looking for a clean, triumphant arc, this isn’t that—but if you want to feel the pulse of a legend still fighting the world, it’s irresistible.

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead wants to be both a love letter to Orson Welles and a cautionary tale about how ego, money, and politics can strangle art, and on that level it’s genuinely fascinating. The catch is that it’s more about the messy logistics, legal knots, and endless near-misses than about giving you a clean, dramatic narrative arc, so it can feel like a long postmortem if you’re not already invested. It also assumes you’ll enjoy hearing smart people dissect a legend rather than watching the legend “do” much on screen, which makes it a bit talky and archival-heavy. If you like film history and creative process disasters, it’s a solid watch; if you want a punchy, emotional documentary with clear heroes and villains, this may test your patience.