— by SEAN GERSKI —
Orson Welles is one of the greatest — if not the greatest — directors of all time. His direction of “Citizen Kane” alone would warrant his inclusion in such a discussion.
But what is often forgotten is what a phenomenal actor he could be. His performance as the title character in “Citizen Kane” is a tour de force. Welles had an abundance of charm, he was great looking and he had that voice.
Welles was many things and there has never really been another one like him. And that is further put into evidence every time they make a movie and they hire an actor to portray him. I have never seen any actor do a convincing job of making me believe I am seeing Orson Welles on the screen.
In “Me and Orson Welles,” the unenviable job of bringing Welles to life falls to Christian McKay. Interestingly, the actor actually already has portrayed Welles — in a one-man play entitled “Rosebud.”
And I will leave it to you to decide how he does as Welles, as we have the newly-released international trailer for “Me and Orson Welles” for you below.
The movie, which is due to arrive in theaters Nov. 25, is directed by Richard Linklater and also stars Zac Efron, Claire Danes and Ben Chaplin.
The plot is as follows: In 1937, 17-year-old Richard Samuels (Efron) meets theatre director Orson Welles (McKay) and convinces him to give Richard the role of Lucillus in Julius Caesar, Broadway’s first Shakespearean production. Welles, who is having an extramarital affair with the leading actress while his wife is pregnant, couples Richard with production assistant Sonja Jones (Danes) to rehearse. Welles decides the entire production crew would benefit from a coupling game, and Richard cheats to ensure he is paired with Sonja.
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I don’t really care to see a whole Zac Efron movie, personally.
No way!
I agree, Orson Welles is a hard act to follow.
All right, it’s finally coming out! I got the chance to see this film at 2009’s Toronto International Film Festival, and I liked it. It’s not great, Efron seems to have been cast for his name alone. I don’t want to rag on him too much, because you can tell he really is trying. I won’t give a full-on review of it now, but I will say that Christian McKay gets all the details right. This guy should have a nomination LOCKED up, especially in this year. He’s just bought him self a couple of years of work, with this performance. It’s a totally GOOD movie, but not great. But then, that’s kindof my feeling about Linklater in general.
Sorry, correction: It was 2008’s Toronto Festival, not this year’s.
I’m glad to hear you think McKay does a good job with it. I wasn’t really feeling it in the trailer, but you can’t base everything on that. I will definitely check it out at some point, though.
Zac Effron is lame.
Looks interesting.
Where has Claire Danes been?
This is on my must-see list.
Yes, I will watch this.
Maurice LaMarche’s impression of Welles has forever skewed him in my mind. Now whenever I see him, or a character playing him, I think of him shilling for Rosebud Frozen Peas as a cartoon in “The Critic.”
I have seen this movie. I rather enjoyed it.