Have you done Quixote? The filmmakers want to complete Orson Welles passion project | Orson Welles

More than 70 years after he shot the first frames, the ambitious project of Orson Welles to put Don Quixote on the big screen can be completed thanks to the cooperation of European film curators.

Oja Kodar, the American filmmaker’s friend and collaborator, has blessed the project under the guidance of the former to. FranceSpain and Italy, together with a film museum in Munich, to create a joint film on 30 hours of films scattered between them.

Welles is revising a classic novel Miguel de Cervantes it started in 1957 as a television show sponsored by Frank Sinatra but the plot ended. After that, Welles worked until the day he died in 1985, filming in Mexico, Italy and Spain whenever he could find a sponsor.

The team tasked with reconstructing the film, led by Esteve Riambau, Welles’s manager and former head of the Catalan film archive, have completed their work. Initially, the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome had to install 50,000 meters (164,000ft) of negatives to add to the 50,000 16mm and 35mm film. Spain and 80 minutes of 35mm footage in France.

“We don’t have all the documents but enough to do it again,” said Riambau. “Half of those things are in the way of Rome that must be sealed before we see them.”

As the pictures were shot in three countries from 1956 to 1976, the work had to be seen as a work in progress, he added. “It would be surprising to find out that all the scenes have been shot but I think there is enough. It’s hard to say what (Welles) wanted for sure because there are some scenes in the script, but we will work with what we have.

“We don’t create anything or use special shapes to fill in the gaps. We don’t work from imagination. The idea is to show the original as much as possible, but it’s like working on a painting where there are no pieces.”

First published in 1605, Cervantes’ novel tells the story of Don Quixote, a young nobleman who has many adventures as he leads a fantasy life as a magician with his sidekick, Sancho Panza. It is considered the first modern book.

The film is not a faithful version of Cervantes’ work. “There are some opening scenes that are faithful to the book but there are some that are, shall we say, added,” said Riambau. “For example, the scene in the puppet theater in the book where Don Quixote thinks that the hero is in danger and he draws his sword and starts cutting heads, in the movie he made it in a movie house in Mexico where he attacks on TV to save the hero.”

Most of the photos are in black and white, although some of the photos were taken in different settings in Andalucía. The soundtrack is also incomplete but, where it does exist, parts of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are narrated by Welles himself.

Welles co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in his first film, Citizen Kane (1941), which to this day ranks as one of the greatest films of all time. He went on to produce The Third Man (1949), in which he also directed, A Touch of Evil (1958) and A Man for All Seasons (1966), among many other films and stages.

“To me, Welles is more than a filmmaker, he’s like Michelangelo,” said Riambau, who has no doubt that Don Quixote will be an addition to many of Welles’ works.

Welles called his work bambino (child) and wrote several versions of the play, showing that he was not sure how to finish it. How long it will take for his successor to finish is an open question.

Riambau said Welles joked that he would change the title of the film to “when will you finish Don Quixote?”

So I said, ‘When are we going to see the rebuilding of Don Quixote?’ And the answer is: I think we will need it until 2028.”