Me and Orson Welles Production
Who's dea was it to make the film?
Who's idea was it to make the film Me and Orson Welles?
Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. adapted the film's screenplay from Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name about a teenager (in reality, the 15-year-old Arthur Anderson, who played Lucius in Welles' production) involved in the founding of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. After receiving funding from CinemaNX, a production company backed by the Isle of Man film fund, and an offer from Framestore Features to co-finance the film, Richard Linklater came on board to direct Me and Orson Welles. Zac Efron signed on as the lead in early January 2008, claiming he decided to take the role of Richard Samuels because "It's a completely different project than I've ever done before," while Claire Danes joined the cast as the protagonist's love interest Sonja Jones in late January.  In the theatre, Christian McKay had portrayed Orson Welles in the one-man play Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles at a number of venues, including the Edinburgh Festival and King's Head (London). He reprised the role in the U.S. at the 2007 "Brits Off Broadway" festival, where Linklater saw his performance and then cast McKay as Welles, retaining him over the subsequent objections of the project's producer.  Me and Orson Welles underwent filming in the Isle of Man, Pinewood Studios, London and New York from February to April 2008. Filming in London commenced first in mid-February, before scenes in the Isle of Man were shot February 24-March 14, 2008, where filming locations included Gaiety Theatre and various other parts of Douglas. During filming in Douglas, Efron and Danes believe they sighted a ghost, or "supernatural" being, outside a window on set at Gaiety Theatre.  Filming in Britain resumed in late March for six weeks at Pinewood Studios. Other locations included Crystal Palace Park, where a facade of New York's Mercury Theatre was set up for a scene. Actor James Tupper claimed that the best replica of an old New York theater was in England, while many of the actors who filled the company were from the Royal Shakespeare Company. The production crew only briefly visited New York; photographs were taken and footage shot to be added into the film as digital effects. Every exterior shot was filmed on a single street built at Pinewood Studios with a green screen at one end; different angles and slightly altered set designs were used between shots to make the street appear different each time. CANNOTANSWER
Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. adapted the film's screenplay from Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name about a teenager
Me and Orson Welles is a 2008 period drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to perform in Orson Welles's groundbreaking stage adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar who becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.

The film was shot in London and New York and on the Isle of Man in February, March and April 2008, and was released in the United States on November 25, 2009, and the United Kingdom on December 4, 2009.

McKay's portrayal of Welles was recognized with a multitude of accolades, and Me and Orson Welles was named one of the top ten independent films of the year by the National Board of Review.

Plot
In New York City in the fall of 1937, 17-year-old high-school student Richard Samuels meets Orson Welles, who unexpectedly offers him the role of Lucius in Caesar, the first production of his new Mercury Theatre repertory company. The company is immersed in rehearsals at its Broadway theater. Charmed by Welles, Richard learns that he is having an affair with the leading actress while his wife is pregnant. Richard finds ambitious production assistant Sonja Jones is attracted to him.

Welles tells Richard a few days before the premiere that he is worried, because he has recently had nothing but good luck; he fears that he will finally have bad luck with the premiere, and that the play will be a flop. During rehearsals Richard accidentally sets off the sprinkler system, soaking the entire theatre. When accused by Welles he denies having anything to do with the deluge, and suggests that the catastrophe was the bad luck that Welles needed to get out of the way.

Welles decides the entire production crew would benefit from a coupling game, and Richard cheats to ensure he is paired with Sonja. Richard spends the night with Sonja, but becomes jealous when she spends the next night with Welles. He confronts Welles, mentions his pregnant wife, and is fired. An apparent reconciliation follows, and Richard performs on the first night. The anti-fascist adaptation of Caesar is a huge success, but after the premiere, Richard is told that Welles only needed him in order to secure a successful first-night production and, that done, he has again been fired.

The broken-hearted but wiser Richard spontaneously recites lines from Julius Caesar in his high school English class, to his classmates' applause. He later meets up with a likely new girlfriend, Gretta Adler, a young aspiring playwright whom he met in a music store at the film's beginning. With Richard's and Sonja's assistance, Adler manages to get a story published in The New Yorker, and she invites Richard out, to help her celebrate.

Cast

 Zac Efron as Richard Samuels
 Christian McKay as Orson Welles
 Claire Danes as Sonja Jones
 Ben Chaplin as George Coulouris
 James Tupper as Joseph Cotten
 Eddie Marsan as John Houseman
 Leo Bill as Norman Lloyd
 Kelly Reilly as Muriel Brassler
 Patrick Kennedy as Grover Burgess
 Travis Oliver as John Hoyt
 Zoe Kazan as Gretta Adler
 Al Weaver as Sam Leve
 Saskia Reeves as Barbara Luddy
 Imogen Poots as Lorelei Lathrop
 Rhodri Orders as Stefan Schnabel
 Michael Brandon as Les Tremayne
 Janie Dee as Mrs Samuels

Production

Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo Jr. adapted the film's screenplay from Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name about a teenager (in reality, the 15-year-old Arthur Anderson, who played Lucius in Welles' production) involved in the founding of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. After receiving funding from CinemaNX, a production company backed by the Isle of Man film fund, and an offer from Framestore Features to co-finance the film, Richard Linklater came on board to direct Me and Orson Welles. Zac Efron signed on as the lead in early January 2008, claiming he decided to take the role of Richard Samuels because "It's a completely different project than I've ever done before," while Claire Danes joined the cast as the protagonist's love interest Sonja Jones in late January.

In the theatre, Christian McKay had portrayed Orson Welles in the one-man play Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles at a number of venues, including the Edinburgh Festival and King's Head (London). He reprised the role in the U.S. at the 2007 "Brits Off Broadway" festival, where Linklater saw his performance and then cast McKay as Welles, retaining him over the subsequent objections of the project's producer.

Me and Orson Welles underwent filming in the Isle of Man, Pinewood Studios, London and New York from February to April 2008. Filming in London commenced first in mid-February, before scenes in the Isle of Man were shot February 24–March 14, 2008, where filming locations included Gaiety Theatre and various other parts of Douglas. During filming in Douglas, Efron and Danes believe they sighted a ghost, or "supernatural" being, outside a window on set at Gaiety Theatre.

Filming in Britain resumed in late March for six weeks at Pinewood Studios. Other locations included Crystal Palace Park, where a façade of New York's Mercury Theatre was set up for a scene. Actor James Tupper claimed that the best replica of an old New York theater was in England, while many of the actors who filled the company were from the Royal Shakespeare Company. The production crew only briefly visited New York; photographs were taken and footage shot to be added into the film as digital effects. Every exterior shot was filmed on a single street built at Pinewood Studios with a green screen at one end; different angles and slightly altered set designs were used between shots to make the street appear different each time.

Release
Select footage of Me and Orson Welles was screened at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where financing and sales agency Cinetic Media were looking to sell the film to a distributor. Before its Cannes premiere, The Hollywood Reporter predicted that the film would attract distributors with Linklater's résumé and Efron's teen "heartthrob" status to appeal to a younger demographic, but Me and Orson Welles failed to secure any American acquisitions. Its first full screening was at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, running September 4–13, 2008. In spite of its failure to find a buyer at Cannes, Toronto's co-director Cameron Bailey predicted that it would be "one of the hottest films" in the lineup, Anne Thompson of Variety magazine also believed that the film would be one of "only a few lucky winners" to secure a seven-figure deal.

Again, however, the film's distribution rights were not purchased and it went on to show at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. In May 2009, production company CinemaNX announced that it would distribute Me and Orson Welles itself, sharing marketing and advertising costs with Vue Entertainment. Freestyle Releasing was hired as the US distributor with Hart/Lunsford Pictures in exchange for participation in revenues paid the $4 million prints and advertising cost.

It was screened at the Woodstock Film Festival in September 2009, where Linklater was honored as the winner of the 2009 Maverick Award. it opened the New Orleans Film Festival on October 9, 2009; and it was screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November 2009.

The film was released in the US on November 25, 2009, and in the UK on December 4, 2009. IndieWIRE reported, "The do-it-yourself release of Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles got off to a very nice start, averaging $15,910 from its four theaters, the highest PTA of all debuting films. ... While Orson Welles is one of the first examples of such a high-profile film going to the DIY route, if it proves successful, it's going to be done a lot more in the future."

Reception

Box office
During its theatrical release (November 25, 2009 – February 25, 2010), Me and Orson Welles grossed a total of $1,190,003 in the United States and $2,336,172 worldwide.

Critical response
The film has received positive reviews from critics. It currently holds an 85% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 156 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Me and Orson Welles boasts a breakout performance by Christian McKay and an infectious love of the backstage drama that overcomes its sometimes fluffy tone." It holds a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 on Metacritic from 30 critics.

Film critic Roger Ebert called Me and Orson Welles "one of the best movies about the theater I've ever seen ... not only entertaining but an invaluable companion to the life and career of the Great Man". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for its "terrific acting" and called it "a must for lovers and students of the theater". Variety magazine's Todd McCarthy labelled McKay's performance "an extraordinary impersonation" of Welles, though he wrote that "Efron never feels like a proper fit for Richard". Karen Durbin of The New York Times praised McKay in the Welles role, saying he brought "a watchful, assessing and subtly excited gaze that makes him thrilling and a little dangerous."

"I've never seen a backstage movie that was truer to the experience of putting on a show," wrote Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout, who reserved special praise for the design team's recreation of Welles's production of Julius Caesar:

Like most Welles stage shows, alas, this one left few traces. No part of the production was filmed, and nothing else survives but the design sketches and some still photographs taken in 1937. ... What makes Me and Orson Welles uniquely interesting to scholars of American drama is that Mr. Linklater's design team found the Gaiety Theatre on the Isle of Man. This house closely resembles the old Comedy Theatre on 41st Street, which was torn down five years after Julius Caesar opened there. Using Samuel Leve's original designs, they reconstructed the set for Julius Caesar on the Gaiety's stage. Then Mr. Linklater filmed some 15 minutes' worth of scenes from the play, lit according to Jean Rosenthal's plot, accompanied by Marc Blitzstein's original incidental music and staged in a style as close to that of the 1937 production as is now possible.

Teachout wrote that he "was floored by the verisimilitude of the results", and that "you will never get any closer to the Welles Julius Caesar than by watching Me and Orson Welles, whose DVD version also includes a special feature comprising footage of the reconstructed scenes, not all of which made the final cut."

In 2015, Mercury actor Norman Lloyd (who is portrayed by Leo Bill in the film) praised Christian McKay's performance as Orson Welles as "the best rendition of him I've ever seen." However, he otherwise "hated" the film and he criticized the accuracy of the characters: "It bears no relation to truth, or to what happened when you worked with Orson and so forth. I thought McKay was very good, but the rest of the characters are just ridiculous. They're all made up! I didn't even recognize myself ... and then I thought, Well, thank goodness I can't!" Lloyd named George Coulouris as an example, who was shown as "neurotic and afraid to do his scene", while in reality he was someone "you couldn't stop from acting, for Christ's sake!".

Accolades
Me and Orson Welles was named one of the top ten independent films of 2009 by the National Board of Review. It was listed as one of the year's top ten films by critics including Philip French of The Observer, David Denby of The New Yorker, and Michael Phillips and A. O. Scott of At the Movies.

The film earned two awards from the Austin Film Critics Association – the Austin Film Award to director Richard Linklater. and the Breakthrough Artist Award to Christian McKay. McKay received many accolades for his portrayal of Orson Welles, including Best Supporting Actor awards from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Utah Film Critics Association. He received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actor nominations from the Boston Society of Film Critics (second place), Broadcast Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, Denver Film Critics Society, Detroit Film Critics Society, Houston Film Critics Society, International Cinephile Society, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle (second place), Online Film & Television Association, Toronto Film Critics Association, and in the Chlotrudis Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice Film Poll (second place). McKay was nominated in the Best Actor category in the Evening Standard British Film Awards, London Critics Circle Film Awards and 2009 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards.

Home media
On August 17, 2010, Warner released Me and Orson Welles on DVD () for exclusive sale at Target in the United States. Entertainment One Films released the DVD in Canada on the same date. The film has not been released on Blu-ray in the U.S., though it is available in the format in Italy and Germany.

Soundtrack
The original motion picture soundtrack for Me and Orson Welles was released on CD November 24, 2009, by Decca Records (5323762).
 "This Year's Kisses", Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
 "I'm Shooting High", Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra
 "Sing, Sing, Sing", Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
 "One O'Clock Jump", Count Basie and His Orchestra
 "Ode to Krupa", Michael J McEvoy
 "Let's Pretend There's a Moon", Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra featuring Eddi Reader
 "Let's Pretend There's a Moon", Christian McKay
 "Let Yourself Go", Ginger Rogers
 "Solitude", The Mills Brothers
 "Aftershow Jam", Michael J McEvoy featuring Huw Morgan on trumpet
 "They Can't Take That Away from Me", Fred Astaire
 "In a Sentimental Mood" (Instrumental), Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
 "The Music Goes Round and Round", Tommy Dorsey and His Clambake Seven
 "I Surrender Dear", Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra featuring Eddi Reader
 "You Made Me Love You", Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra featuring Eddi Reader
 "Have You Met Miss Jones?", James Langton and His Solid Senders
 "Sing, Sing, Sing", James Langton and His Solid Senders

References

External links
 
 
 
 
 Interview with Arthur Anderson

2008 films
2000s comedy-drama films
British films
British comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
2000s English-language films
Films directed by Richard Linklater
Films about Orson Welles
Films based on American novels
Films set in 1937
Films set in New York City
Films shot in England
Films about actors
Films about theatre
American films
Julius Caesar (play)
Films shot in the Isle of Man
2008 comedy films
2008 drama films
Addison O'Dea (, ) is an American filmmaker and writer who specializes in anthropology. His work has been published and broadcast by National Geographic, Discovery and Ozy.

Family and education 
Addison was born on June 15, 1979 in New York Hospital to Patrick O'Dea (1938–2007) and Sara (née Greenway) O'Dea. Raised as the eldest of three brothers in New York City, the family traveled internationally extensively for both personal and professional reasons. O'Dea attended the Dwight School in Manhattan for international baccalaureate and holds a BSc. from New York University.

O'Dea's father, Patrick, was murdered in August 2007.

Work 
O'Dea, a former contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has written and directed a number of virtual reality documentary films focusing on subjects such as the origin of voodoo through West African Vodun in Togo and Benin; and ancient Quranic libraries in the Sahara.

, O'Dea was producing an action film set in the Sahara written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. Featuring a Tuareg character as the protagonist, the working title is "Tuareg Project". He is also the writer and producer of a documentary series called Beat Nation, currently in development with Ginedo Films, also produced by Nabil Elderkin and Mattia Bogianchino.

It was reported in 2021 that O'Dea is directing a feature film financed by Endeavor Content titled Unlikely Heroes.

Discovery TRVLR 
His largest project to date is writing and directing the thirty six episode series Discovery TRVLR for Discovery, Inc. and Google. Filmed on all seven continents, the series centers around a "Guru, Renegade, Entertainer or Explorer" in each environment as they pull the curtain back on varying rituals, unique traditions and life-threatening quests that encompass their culture." At that time, Discovery TRVLR was Discovery's largest virtual reality project to date.

The series was designed by O'Dea to go to as remote locations as possible and focus on the universality of the people who live there. Rather than sending a message of 'we are all the same' or forcing Western ideals on the characters, the idea is to create an elegant juxtaposition at a hyperlocal level. "Defying convention" in Communist Vietnam is significantly different when contrasted alongside the same idea in Catholic Mexico.

From an interview with Addison in Filmmaker about the show:

Personal life 
On September 23, 2019, O'Dea was reported to be engaged to be married to actress Minnie Driver.

See also

Additional reading 
Essay by O'Dea on the principals of Vietnamese Buddhism in the afterlife in OZY
Essay by O'Dea on the religious cult of Santa Muerte in ''Monster Children
O'Dea being interviewed on Cheddar

References

External links 
Official website

Living people
1979 births
People from New York City
Explorers
American explorers
American documentary filmmakers
American film directors
New York University alumni Brian O'Dea (born September 1, 1948) is a Canadian businessman, author, television personality, and former drug smuggler. He is best-known for a large marijuana smuggling enterprise he masterminded in the mid-1980s. Set up to move marijuana in bulk from Southeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest and California, between 1986 and 1988, O'Dea's organization successfully smuggled 76 tons of marijuana worth about $300 million into Washington, transported it to California, and distributed it throughout the United States.

After suffering a cocaine-induced heart attack in 1988, O'Dea quit smuggling and using illegal drugs and became a substance abuse counselor. A long U.S. federal investigation of his marijuana smuggling operation resulted in O'Dea's arrest in 1990. 

O'Dea pleaded guilty in 1991 and received a ten year sentence. After beginning his prison term in California, in 1992 he was transferred to a prison in Canada. Released on parole in 1993, O'Dea later built a career as a television commentator, narrator, and producer, in addition to authoring a memoir.

Early life
O'Dea was born in St. John's, Newfoundland on 1 September 1948, one of five children born to John R. O'Dea and Madeleine "Maddy" Connolly. His family was prominent in Newfoundland business and politics; his uncle Fabian O'Dea served as lieutenant governor of Newfoundland in the 1960s. O'Dea's father was president of Newfoundland Brewery and founded Atlantic Brewing Company. He also served in Newfoundland's provincial assembly and as president of the St. John's metro board.

O'Dea attended the parochial schools of St. John's including Winterton School and Saint Bonaventure's College. According to his memoir, as an eleven year old at Saint Bonaventure's he was sexually molested by a member of the Christian Brothers who was serving on the faculty. In the fall of 1965, O'Dea began attendance at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Halifax, Nova Scotia. While in college, O'Dea worked as the host of a CJON (now CJYQ) radio call in show that dealt with current events, and sold advertising for the college radio station and newspaper, CHMR and The Muse. In addition, O'Dea also began dealing in marijuana, traveling to Toronto to buy the drug from suppliers, then returning to St. John's to resell it at a profit. His drug business expanded to include the sale and production of MDA, a precursor to MDMA (ecstasy).

Drug dealer
After leaving the university without graduating, O'Dea continued to deal drugs and became an importer of marijuana to Canada from the United Kingdom. In 1972, he was arrested for possession of hashish, marijuana, and cocaine with intent to distribute. He was convicted and sentenced to nineteen months in prison. He served twelve months before being released.

After leaving prison, O'Dea traveled to Colombia to re-establish a connection with an acquaintance he had met in Montreal before going to prison. He used this relationship to establish himself as a cocaine smuggler, and developed a regular routine of picking up shipments in Colombia and carrying them into Canada, where he broke down the packages into smaller amounts for individual resale.

Following the success of his smuggling trips, O'Dea renewed the acquaintance of several individuals living in Toronto whom he had known in Newfoundland. The group agreed to have O'Dea establish a presence in Jamaica, where he could use his Colombian contacts to bring in cocaine. Other members of the organization would be responsible for transporting the cocaine from Jamaica to Canada and selling it. The relationship soon soured, and O'Dea developed new Jamaican contacts that enabled him to continue smuggling.

In 1975, O'Dea and a Chicago-based partner agreed to smuggle marijuana from Colombia by boat to the United States. When this venture proved unsuccessful, O'Dea and his partner in Chicago made an arrangement with smugglers based in Florida and Georgia to move the marijuana from Colombia by air and purchased a Douglas DC-6 transport plane for the purpose. This venture failed when mechanical failure caused O'Dea and the pilot to ditch the plane, resulting in the loss of both plane and cargo.

Move to California
Having lost most of his money in the unsuccessful attempt to smuggle marijuana by airplane, in 1976, O'Dea re-established contact with a Los Angeles-based attorney he had met in Jamaica. He moved to California, where he became a courier for a group of individuals who moved money for wealthy clients. O'Dea's function was to circulate among the banks of Los Angeles exchanging cash for cashier's checks made payable to overseas companies. He would then return the checks to his employers, who would deposit them in foreign banks. He also re-established himself as a cocaine smuggler, using a small network of couriers to carry the drugs from Colombia to one of the Caribbean islands, including Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. O'Dea would then repackage the shipments for transport to Los Angeles and resale.

In the late 1970s, O'Dea met Bill and Chris Shaffer, wealthy brothers who had interests in both legal and illegal businesses. O'Dea began to work for Bill Shaffer, including distributing marijuana. In addition, O'Dea operated for Shaffer a crew of couriers who helped move money to overseas banks using the same method of exchanging cash for cashier's checks that O'Dea had used when working as a courier.

Entrepreneur
O'Dea was periodically involved in legitimate business ventures, several of which proved successful. While living in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s, his wife and he had an antique store. His wife was a hairdresser, and O'Dea recognized the potential of Tri, the brand of haircare products she used when she cut his hair. He established a business relationship with Tri's sales manager, John Paul DeJoria, which led to O'Dea becoming the product's Canadian distributor. When DeJoria was fired, O'Dea loaned him $15,000 to help start the Paul Mitchell hair products line.

O'Dea declined DeJoria's offer to join him in the Paul Mitchell venture because he felt obligated to honor his agreement with the makers of Tri. He successfully retailed Tri in Vancouver, and planned to expand into more cities, but abandoned the venture when Canadian authorities who suspected him of involvement in illegal drugs accused him of avoiding customs duties. To avoid a prison term, he pleaded guilty and paid a $25,000 fine, and his business was closed.

O'Dea developed a cocaine addiction and spent time in a rehabilitation clinic. After his release, he resolved to stay sober and leave the drug business. With two acquaintances, he developed a plan to market as jewelry agatized dinosaur bones found in Utah. The Shaffers agreed to finance the enterprise, and it was this business O'Dea was promoting when he became involved in the large-scale marijuana smuggling venture for which he is best known.

Southeast Asia connection
In 1986, a Canadian involved in selling illegal drugs who was also acquainted with O'Dea told O'Dea about the opportunity to import tons of marijuana from Southeast Asia. Lured by the possibility of large profits, the Shaffers agreed to finance the operation, and O'Dea agreed to manage it. Using a commercial vessel, they transported shiploads of marijuana from Vietnam and Thailand to the coast of Alaska. Crews working for O'Dea transferred the marijuana to their commercial fishing boats and repackaged it in fish boxes. They then sailed to their home port in Anacortes, Washington, where the fish boxes containing marijuana were moved to trucks owned by a company O'Dea controlled. The trucks transported the cargo to California for distribution and sale throughout the United States.

Between 1986 and 1988, O'Dea's Pacific Northwest enterprise successfully smuggled 76 tons of marijuana worth about $300 million. The individual who brought O'Dea into the arrangement drew attention to himself through ostentatious behavior including cocaine-fueled parties, so O'Dea removed him from the operation while promising to pay him after the marijuana was sold. This individual became an informant, and during their final shipment, O'Dea's crew succeeded in transporting the marijuana despite being under surveillance by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Arrest and imprisonment
O'Dea had relapsed into occasional drug use following his first attempt at rehabilitation. After the transport of the Pacific Northwest venture's last marijuana shipment, he fell into constant cocaine use. Following a heart attack brought on by a cocaine overdose, in 1988 he quit drugs and became a volunteer drug and alcohol addiction counselor.

While volunteering as a counselor, O'Dea became friendly with psychologist Dave Richo and made use of his entrepreneurial skills to sell Richo's book Letting the Light Through by making calls on bookstores throughout Southern California. Later, he began to record and sell copies of lectures Richo presented to adult learning students at Santa Barbara City College.

The DEA had continued investigating O'Dea's Pacific Northwest operation, and in 1990 he was arrested. He pleaded guilty in 1991 and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He served a year at Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island, and in 1992 was transferred to the Springhill Penitentiary in Canada.

Later career
In 1993, O'Dea was paroled and he became a venture capitalist in Toronto. He attracted media attention in 2001 when he published an advertisement in the National Post through which he attempted to obtain employment by highlighting aspects of his drug smuggling endeavors, including his personnel and logistics management skills. He also began to appear on television as a commentator for U.S. and Canadian news programs, frequently providing his views on marijuana legalization, prison reform, and other topics.

As he attempted to establish himself in a post-prison career, O'Dea also began volunteering to give speeches about his life in the drug business. He appeared at schools and parent groups throughout Canada to deliver a presentation called "The Consequences of Choice" in which he used his experiences to dissuade others from following the same path. His efforts resulted in public recognition for his community service from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

O'Dea went on to become a television and film producer. His credits include the show Creepy Canada, which aired on the OLN and Destination America networks. In 2003, O'Dea's drug smuggling enterprise was featured on the television series Masterminds in an episode titled "A Smuggler Supreme".

In 2006, O'Dea published a memoir, HIGH: Confessions of a Pot Smuggler. High was well-received, and was the winner of the 2007 Arthur Ellis Award for Best True Crime Book.

O'Dea narrated the 2009 documentary Hangman's Graveyard. In 2012, he appeared as Kevin O'Leary's advisor on the CBC Television Reality TV Show Redemption Inc. O'Dea told his story of smuggling drugs, getting caught, and changing his life in the September 27, 2012 "Trust Me" segment of the Snap Judgment radio show.

With U.S. states and Canadian provinces legalizing recreational marijuana beginning in 2012, in recent years celebrities and business people desiring to market marijuana under their brand names, including Ghostface Killah and Kurupt have turned to O'Dea to broker arrangements between them, suppliers, and retailers. In 2018, O'Dea was reported to be living in Montecito, California, where he continued to work as a broker for legal marijuana entrepreneurs and his neighbors included Oprah Winfrey and Jeff Bridges. In January 2018, O'Dea and his family narrowly escaped a mudslide that inundated his hometown. His house was spared, but those of several neighbors sustained significant damage.

Family
In 1972, O'Dea married Eleanor "Ellie" O'Dea. They divorced in 1973, during his first prison term. While living in California in 1977, he married Suzi Foreman, with whom he had two children, daughter Cherokee and son Cheyenne. They divorced in 1988, and in 1993 O'Dea married Susannah Lewis, whom he met while living in California. They are the parents of a son, Rufus.

References

Bibliography

External links
 Brian O'Dea's official website (via Wayback Machine)
 Brian O'Dea interview by Joseph Planta for The Commentary.ca. April 27, 2006.
 National Post Classified Ad (Via Now I Know.com)
 Brian O'Dea at Crime Pays: A Look at Five Individuals Linked By Their prosperous Careers... On the Wrong Side of the Law. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007

1948 births
Living people
20th-century Canadian criminals
Canadian male criminals
Canadian smugglers
Canadian television producers
Canadian cannabis traffickers
Canadian gangsters of Irish descent
People from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador