Me And Orson Welles
Who would have thought that a period piece about Orson Welles would hold an audience’s attention? Directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), this film gives us a close portrait of the larger-than-life Orson Welles (played by Christian McKay), and the way he produces the “Julius Caesar” play in 1937 at the legendary Mercury Theatre.
The film is told through the eyes of Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), an 18-year-old who gets a small part in the play as Lucius, after going to New York City and make it as an actor. He is offered the role he is introduced to Sonja Jones (Claire Danes), Orson’s production assistant, and soon begins to fall for her.
Set in the week leading up to the opening of the play, most of the scenes are of the actors saying their lines on stage, or getting into a heated discussion backstage. Linklater does a good job of re-creating a 1930s Manhattan, with the costumes, and Christian McKay portrays a realistic image of how we would have expected the real Orson Welles – a top artist, a real drill sergeant in the theater, and certainly a womanizer. McKay turns Orson into a mad, but human, genius who knows what he wants and knows exactly how to get it, no matter who he hurts in the process.
Zac Efron, shedding his High School Musical persona, has a friendly manner and is engaging in his character as someone who isn’t quite ready for the outside world. Claire Danes delivers a realistic portrayal as a young professional woman who is trying to move her career forward, whatever it takes, even if it means being with a man who can get her the best roles who she doesn’t love. The Mercury company of actors are played by a good ensemble of film actors—among them James Tupper, as Joseph Cotten; Kelly Reilly as Orson’s temperamental leading lady; Ben Chaplin, terrific as a hard-faced English actor George Coulouris; and Zoe Kazan as an aspiring writer. Eddie Marsan also plays a strong role as the young Welles collaborator John Houseman.
Although I thought the film moved at a relatively fast pace, I still felt that there could have been more depth to each of the characters, especially in the scenes between Sonja and Richard. Orson Welles’ boisterous personality so perfectly portrayed by Christian McKay adds an extra level of interest to the film that was utterly captivating to watch.
Me And Orson Welles opens today at the Angelika Film Center in Plano and the Magnolia Theatre Dallas.
Me And Orson Welles • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 • Running Time: 114 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual references and smoking. • Distributed by Freestyle Releasing