Key Facts

• Orson Welles began filming Don Quixote in 1957, initially as a TV project backed by Frank Sinatra, but it was never finished.
• Filming took place over about 20 years in Mexico, Italy, and Spain, with Welles working on it until his death in 1985.
• The footage is scattered across several European archives, including France, Spain, Italy, and the Munich film museum in Germany.
• The reconstructing team has 30 hours of footage and plans to create the film without adding new scenes or special effects.
• There is no complete script, but enough alternative versions exist to guide the editing process.
• Some scenes are in black and white, while others were shot in color; the soundtrack is incomplete, and Welles himself voiced major roles in parts.
• The story is a loose adaptation of Cervantes’s novel, with some scenes changed, such as one moved from a puppet theater to a cinema.
• Esteve Riambau, leader of the project, compares Welles’s work to that of Michelangelo and sees this film as an important addition to Welles’s legacy.