Orson Welles: Power, Heart, And Soul

This incisive introduction to the life and work of Orson Welles is an essential study of one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. With special attention paid to the political, social, and cultural milieus in which Welles lived and worked, this essay and biographical portrait contextualizes and brings to life a filmmaker who is too often either mythologized or misrepresented, fully humanizing the man behind masterworks like Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Chimes at Midnight, and many more.

Among the many virtues of F.X. Feeney’s book is that it conveys, as no book ever has before, what it must have felt like to be Orson Welles. He manages to give us that sense through his deep empathy, understanding, and close yet still clear-eyed identification. Every reader will be grateful to him for opening the full cornucopia that was Orson Welles and analyzing those riches so acutely.

— Joseph McBride, author of What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?: A Portrait of an Independent Career

Credit: Lee Christian
Credit: Lee Christian
F.X. Feeney is an L.A. based filmmaker and critic. His essays, reviews and interviews have been published in L.A. Weekly, Vanity Fair, People Variety and Fade-In. Since 1996 he has been a contributing editor to Written By, the magazine of the Writer’s Guild of America, and a founding contributor to theL.A. Review of Books. He is the author of two books: Roman Polanski and Michael Mann, both for Taschen.

As a filmmaker, Feeney has coproduced one feature, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession for director Xan Cassavetes, as well as produced, for Michael Mann, a short montage which screened as part of the 2007 Academy Awards telecast. He served as a prominent commentator in Robert Weide’s 2011 documentary, Woody Allen: American Master. His screenwriting credits include Frankenstein Unbound, for director Roger Corman, and The Big Brass Ring, adapted for director George Hickenlooper from a story by Orson Welles.