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 Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes, Zac Efron, Zoe Kazan, Christian McKay
Run Time: 107 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2008
Language: English
Rating: PG (Coarse language)
Me and Orson Welles, which had its world premiere at the
2008 Toronto International Film Festival®, marks another
departure for maverick filmmaker Richard Linklater (Fast
Food Nation, A Scanner Darkly). Here he shifts attention to
cinematic master Orson Welles, the visionary behind such
films as Citizen Kane and The Third Man.
Based on the novel by Robert Kaplow, Me and Orson
Welles brilliantly captures the wonderment of an innocent’s
encounter with genius. The film stars heartthrob Zac Efron
(Hairspray) as Richard Samuels, a teen with dreams of
making it big on Broadway. In 1937 (years before
Citizen Kane), Richard fortuitously runs into Welles (brilliantly
played by newcomer Christian McKay), who is already a
famous New York dramatist. With his new Mercury Theatre
troupe as his instrument, Welles plans to mount a production
of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that will shake the foundations
of American stagecraft.
Taking the young man under his wing, Welles casts
Richard in a small role – his first big break. As Welles whips
the troupe into shape for the pending premiere, egos and
passions simmer to a boil. Like a moth to a flame, Richard
seeks the approval of the quick-tempered director, but soon
finds himself distracted by Welles’s girl Friday, Sonja (Claire
Danes, Shopgirl, Evening), a candid and ambitious woman
with a soft spot for powerful men.
A dazzling pitch-perfect performance by McKay reveals
the ego behind the genius. At times both terrifying and
hilarious, McKay’s Welles erupts into roaring fury when things
don’t go his way, but can turn on a dime to charm an investor
or a pouting actor. The man who rose from Julius Caesar to
War of the Worlds to Citizen Kane must have been hell to live
with, and that is one of the delicious pleasures of the film.
“Me And Orson Welles marks yet another departure as the
versatile auteur creates a sweetly entertaining putting-on-a-show period drama that celebrates a defining moment
in the life of American theatre and one of its most iconoclastic stars.” – Allan Hunter, Screen Daily
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/meandorsonwelles
Official site www.meandorsonwellesthemovie.com
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