Episode 393: F FOR FAKE (1973) with Tony Wagner

We’re no strangers to Orson Welles on this here podcast… Or are we? Welles first-timer* Tony Wagner returns for a doozy documentary/film/essay from the inimitable auteur himself!

Orson Welles was hired to direct a documentary his friend had filmed on an art forger. But Welles, mired in the endless production of what would become his posthumous THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018), couldn’t let it go there. His version expands the scope to include the forger’s biographer, the forger’s biographer’s forgeries, Howard Hughes, and a large-scale interrogation “about trickery, fraud, and lies.”

With Tony, we’re giving F FOR FAKE the T for Trylove treatment, discussing the criticism of art criticism on display, whether or not it’s possible to REALLY criticize this movie, its similarities to YouTube essay culture, and more.

*Tony has seen TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986).

Find Tony…

• On Twitter at @tonydwagner
• On Letterboxd at @tonydwagner
• On Trylove episodes about ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016), THE KEEP (1983)

Give to these causes in need during ICE’s occupation of Minnesota:

• https://mn50501.org/donate
• Support Minnesotans defending their communities from ICE: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/
• @sanctuarysupplydepot: Mutual aid group in Mpls getting basic necessities to our houseless neighbors https://linktr.ee/sanctuarysupplydepot
• @mplsmutualaid: Clearinghouse of mutual aid for our neighbors: https://linktr.ee/mplsmutualaid
• ISAIAH, an interfaith group fighting for racial and economic justice in MN: https://secure.everyaction.com/G8TCnxFlE0qd9zlUEYjjeg2
• Show love to North Minneapolis families in crisis: https://www.gofundme.com/f/show-love-to-north-minneapolis-families-in-crisis

References:

• Trylove episodes on THE TRIAL (1962), TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) with Abbie Phelps, and EXTREME PRIVATE EROS: LOVE SONG 1974 (1974)
• Orson Welles’s 1960 interview with the BBC on how he made CITIZEN KANE (1941): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpLmVzT_YA
• Orson Welles’s 1938 broadcast of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
• Orson Welles's 1976 trailer for the US release of F FOR FAKE, which has basically nothing to do with the movie itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hYBUYYlIxA
• “Against Gatekeepers: Orson Welles’ F for Fake in an Era of Generative Artificial Intelligence” by Dan McCabe for Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/2026/07/17/against-gatekeepers-orson-welles-f-for-fake-in-an-era-of-generative-artificial-intelligence/
• Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets at https://www.trylon.org/
• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog, at https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#Bunk #35mm

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch!

Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Orson's Theme Version 2" by Michel Legrand from the F FOR FAKE soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 393: F FOR FAKE (1973) with Tony Wagner

2:42 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary (under exclusive license from AG Enterprises, Ltd.)

10:10 - The way you watch documentaries will affect your experience

18:18 - When it becomes about more than art forgery

27:43 - The “anti-expert” strain

36:22 - Orson Welles and the “democratizing” of art and criticism

45:59 - The ending with Picasso and Oja Kodar

56:15 - Is F FOR FAKE the most criticism-proof movie we’ve ever covered?

1:04:41 - Recollection, verisimilitude, and WARFARE (2025)

1:10:31 - The Junk Drawer

1:19:07 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1973