Orson Around - The Making Of Touch Of Evil

It offered 'bad boy wonder' Orson Welles a chance to return to Hollywood. Instead, the brutal film noir marked the end of the Citizen Kane creator's American career.

Few people have made the transition from wunderkind to washout as quickly as Orson Welles. When the 24-year-old Orson looked over the set of debut film Citizen Kane, he described it as “the biggest train set a boy ever had”. Six short years later, Welles’ career was so badly derailed he was reduced to knocking out a bargain basement Macbeth.

There were countless reasons for Welles’ fall from grace - the arrogance of youth, the envy of others, the Hearst press’s reaction to Kane. However, as time slowly drifted by, it seemed increasingly likely that The Lady From Shanghai (1947) would remain Welles’ last American studio film. That was until Charlton Heston stuck his oar in.

By 1957 there were few bigger actors on Planet Hollywood than Chuck Heston. A household name thanks to The Ten Commandments, Universal considered themselves very lucky to sign him up for Badge Of Evil, a little noir number designed to prop up the financially unstable studio. On enquiring about his co-stars and director, Heston was told that, while a filmmaker hadn’t been assigned, he’d be sharing the screen with Janet Leigh and Orson Welles.

“Well, how about having Orson direct it?” asked Heston. “You know, he’s made some pretty good movies…”