Fails to link against it own libs. Removing the --as-needed flag is fine, but if you are using it with ebuilds that honor the 'openexr' use flag, they'll choke during configure. Packages that failed on my system due to this: kdebase-kioslaves,kdelibs,kdegraphics-kfile-plugins (all 3.5.2, by way of OpenExr): These will all compile with --as-needed fine, if you disable the openexr use flag on them. With the patch, all is well, use flag and everything.
Created attachment 87092 [details, diff] openexr-1.2.2 --as-needed fix
Created attachment 87093 [details, diff] openexr-1.2.2-r2.ebuild patch --as-needed
Many thanks for the patch, applied now without revbump.