Orson Welles Speaking for Paul Masson Wine

[davek12]

That was absolute pure magic to turn the outtake reel into something usable, even with the dub. They should do one now with the guy who voiced him on The Critic dubbing the voice.

[GrassValleyGreg]

I've been looking for how it was SUPPOSED to look forever! Nice.

[chretiendutroyes]

This ad is incredible in comparison to the raw footage.

[mysticblade35]

MUUUUAAAHAAAAAA the French

champagne

[67nairb]

Sir John Gielgud replaced Welles as the spokesman for Pual Mason when he died in 1985.

[darkavengermanowar]

A true genius, Orson Welles!

[fromthesidelines]

Johnny Carson did an equally famous parody of this ad on "THE TONIGHT SHOW":

CARSON (as "Welles"): We will sell no wine....before its time.

CARSON (as a "wino"): [groaning] IT'S TIME!!!!

[76sagi]

it's fermenTed in the boTTle

[Jcolinsol]

They got no more than they deserved. If they had an ounce of professional dignity they would have run the ad as it was.

Mmmaaah the french. Paul Masson makes a California wine, sold in a plastic bottle, and like the best French wines it's sealed with a foil lid.

[mdumas43073]

Welles' voice is audibly sped up on the final soundtrack. I wonder why?

[Dalek1230]

@mdumas43073 he was drunk

[carltheshivan]

I guess they waited for him to sober up and then re-shot the commercial.

[JimHallowes]

Actually we went back into the recording studio with Orson a week later and re-recorded his dialog and edited it in to the best footage we had from that day's shoot... we didn't do another day of shooting. We did as the post below says we "salvaged" a commercial and the client claimed they could still see his red eyes in the final edited and aired spot.

[muddykipz]

lol comparing this vs the outtakes, it was clear that Orson dubbed the footage later

[djdickfirst]

Oh wow, you actually worked on this spot! I could imagine the shoot was frustrating to say the least. What do you remember about it?

[listerstorm239]

@JimHallowes There is some noticeable splicing at the 10 second mark, in between the words "champagne" and "by". But it is very impressive that you were able to turn the raw footage into a usable commercial.

Did they do a lot of takes, or just the three?

Personally, I find these behind the scenes looks at Mr. Welles to be fascinating- even if it had worked perfectly, I'd still be interested to see what he was like in between takes.

[Tokopol]

@JimHallowes Wow, I can see the dubbing and the red eyes.

[davek12]

@JimHallowes Quick question: How much had he been drinking before the other footage was filmed? Was everyone just too afraid to ask him to stop?

[desh79]

Mwaha, the French.

[doublejax]

Wow... they actually managed to salvage that commercial! Congrats Unicron