Early in 1993, Hellman did some editing on It's All True, a film about Orson Welles' unfinished Mexican project from 1942. Co-directed by Bill Krohn, this documentary consisted of Welles' surviving footage and interviews with his collaborators. Hellman was one of the first editors hired by Krohn: "While I was editing Love, Cheat and Steal, I was moonlighting as editor on It's All True. I wanted to use the Lightworks system, since I am familiar with PCs, but the French producers insisted I use an Avid, which is based on the Mac. I had an assistant who was familiar with the Avid, but who refused to help me (claiming he had too much work to do), because he was bucking for my job. He got it. I was fired after eight weeks or so, partly because I wanted to go to the Cannes Film Festival to get married, but mostly because they felt I was too slow on the Avid — which I was. I insisted they not put my name on the film, and I believe they complied. I finished editing the Welles material, and had edited some of the documentary scenes. I have not watched the film in its entirety, but believe all of my work was re-done."6 According to Bill Krohn, "None of Monte's work is in It's All True. He left to get married and the new editor preferred to start over from scratch because Monte, thru no fault of his own, had been working with incomplete rushes. That fact emerged just as he was leaving to marry Emma Webster, and since there was a new guy coming in, he made that decision."7
In 1994, Hellman was interviewed outside his house for the BBC's "Omnibus" documentary Quentin Tarantino: Hollywood's Boy Wonder, while in 1995 he appeared on the BBC series Close-Up discussing favorite scenes from A Place in the Sun, The Third Man and Spirit of the Beehive. On January 3, 1995, Hellman gave a lecture at London's National Film Theatre to accompany an incomplete retrospective of his work. The final film he edited was The Westing Game (1997), a family movie produced (for Showtime) by Julie Corman and directed by Terence H. Winkless: "I can't remember ever meeting the director. I was hired by Julie Corman, and pretty much was left alone. I don't think Julie ever came into the cutting room. Jim Makiej was co-editor, and I looked at his scenes, but pretty much left him alone as well. I even went to England for a couple of weeks, leaving Jim to run the ship. I preferred to give the editing credit to Jim, who needed it to pursue his editing career."8 Although Hellman is not credited on the film, he is thanked in the acknowledgments. As Laurie Post recalls, "I line produced The Westing Game, and asked Monte to edit it, which he did, and which I still consider a personal favor to me."9
Also in 1997, George Hickenlooper made a 14-minute documentary (for MSNBC) entitled Monte Hellman: American Auteur, which includes interviews with Hellman, Roger Corman and Harry Dean Stanton. This short can be found on the Two-Lane Blacktop DVD. The DVD releases of his films have done an enormous amount to bring Hellman back into the spotlight, and he has recorded audio commentaries for several of them; the first was for the Shatter laserdisc in 1998, followed by the DVDs of Two-Lane Blacktop (1999), The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind, Cockfighter and Iguana (all 2000). "I have a series I'm trying to get Anchor Bay to to put out: 'Monte Hellman's Favorite Movies.' And I have quite a lot of them."10
Hellman's last screen credit was for an acting role as himself in Mika Kaurismaki's L.A. Without a Map (1998). He appears briefly sitting in a restaurant and being greeted by the head waiter (L'Amour Fou's Jean-Pierre Kalfon), who addresses him as "Mr. Hellman": "Since I was playing myself, I came on set wearing the clothes I wear at such restaurants. The wardrobe department gave me a jacket to wear that essentially made me into someone else. In the scene, the star came by my table and spoke briefly to me. I don't recall anything other than an adlib hello. I've not seen the movie. I met Aki (Kaurismaki) and Mika in Finland when I was invited to the Midnight Sun Festival. I've met one or the other occasionally ever since, Mika more frequently than Aki."11
Throughout the 1990s, Hellman was also developing several projects. Aside from continuing work on Secret Warriors and Toy Soldiers, he was involved with the following:
In a Dream of Passion
A revival of this adaptation of Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Maison de Rendez-Vous, to have been produced by Anatole Dauman (who died in 1998). Hellman was working on this from 1991 to 1994: "It seems unlikely that I will ultimately make this film, since this type of 'art' film has become so unfashionable in today's Hollywood, and Europe is even more inhospitable to American directors trying to usurp their domain. Perhaps, if I make a series of successful films, someone will pay me back by letting me make this pet project of mine."12
The Second Death of Ramon Mercader
An adaptation of Jorge Semprun's noveclass="underline" "Ramon was begun early in '92 until late '94. It was foiled by Semprun, who wanted a fortune for the rights. My friend Patrick Bauchau was to have played the hero (he was also penciled in for the part of Manneret in In a Dream of Passion)."13
Dark Passion
More work on this adaptation of Lionel White's Obsession, from 1992 to 1993, then 1996 onwards: "I've kept my basic combined screenplay, but have made various updates over the years. At one point New Line was interested, and gave me extensive notes. I edited the script, and wrote some new scenes based on their notes. They ultimately passed on the project, but I felt the script had been improved as a result of their suggestions."14
Colt
A TV series about a gun, originally a Sergio Leone project entitled Colt, an American Legend. Leone's biographer Christopher Frayling notes that, "It's plan was to tell the story of a single weapon from its manufacture in Hartford, Connecticut, to its various uses and abuses in the Wild West."15 According to Hellman, "That was how the project was presented to me. It was an idea that had been out there for a long time. Gianni Bozzacchi, who produced China 9, stole it from Sergio Leone (or his estate). Again, we came close to making a deal, but Gianni has a reputation that may not precede him, but usually follows him before signing a deal. He's burned too many bridges. I didn't know that Gianni stole it from Leone until I accidentally saw a fax that was supposed to have been sent in Italian, but was in English. By then the project had pretty much died because of Bozzacchi's reputation."16