March 2012

Fiona Banner: Heart of Darkness

Orson Welles' screenplay Heart of Darkness, 'the greatest film never made'

Orson Welles' unmade film Heart of Darkness was performed in its entirety on board the Roi des Belges by the actor Brian Cox (Manhunter, Coriolanus).

Brian Cox in Fiona Banner's Heart of Darkness, 2012. An Artangel production. Copyright © 2012 The Estate of Orson Welles

Orson Welles wrote a screenplay based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness in the late 1930s. It would have been his first film but it was rejected by the studio RKO, and he went on to make Citizen Kane instead. At the time the script was considered too political, too expensive, and too uncompromising artistically, not to mention its narrative parallels with the rise of fascism in Europe. Today other parallels could be drawn.

Licensed by the Estate of Orson Welles.

About Fiona Banner

A Room for London was designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with the artist Fiona Banner. Her work repeatedly explores the themes of narrative and history. Her recent installation “Harrier and Jaguar” placed two fighter planes in the central atrium of Tate Britain in London. She has explored the retelling of history through war movies, most notably through her book The Nam, which retells major Vietnam films in her own words. www.fionabanner.com

Original performance: 31 March 2012

Video hosted until:  30 June 2012