Me and Orson Welles
All's Fair in Love and Theatre.
Based in real theatrical history, Me and Orson Welles is a romantic coming-of-age story of a whirlwind week in NYC, 1937. Richard (Zac Efron), is a young aspiring actor thrown into the middle of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Company on the eve of the opening of Welles' historic staging of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. During this week, Richard finds romance with a worldly older woman (Claire Danes), becomes immersed in a creative experience few are afforded, and learns the downside of crossing the imperious, brilliant Welles (Christian McKay). Richard is about to grow up FAST.
Member Reviews
What a Man, What an Ego! - MikeB
A very nicely depicted film of the U.S. in the 1930’s (centred in New York) with the musical flavour of the era. It’s about a young man (still in secondary school?) who finds a small character spot in Orson Welles’s theatre reproduction of “Julius Caesar” – it’s a sort of fascist rendition. With his employment comes romance, betrayal and more romance –all of this centred on the theatre. The main actor (the young man in search of love, fame and immortality) is played, I felt, rather tepidly by Zac Efron. But, perhaps, this is deliberate as the other actors surrounding him more than make up for this, particularly Christian McKay who plays Orson Welles. And there are a cast of dozens in this film vying for Orson’s attention, adulation and fame - and it all works rather well.
It has an authentic 1930’s feel with relationships made and unmade at great speed. There is comedy and plenty of conflict in the entire theatre production – and an Orson Welles who has more than a swelled ego. It’s a fun watch with a tidy ending.Good, well written and entertaining - lookingjust
This is a well written little historical fiction with a fairly good cast and nice production values. It's not deep, thought-provoking in particular, or even that relevant to anything in particular. But it is entertaining, especially if you know some of the history of Orson Welles and his productions. Christion McKay is very good as Welles; Clair Danes is good and very pretty as the ambitious sleep her way to the top assistant. Zac Efron is fine in his role - no better than a dozen other young cute guy actors would have been, but no worse probably. All in all, a right in the middle 3 stars and probably worth an evenings rental.Who is the Boss? - anglophonequebec
This tightly scripted film takes the historical fiction (of the same name) as a starting point. It follows the archetype of play-within-the-play; the action turns around the production at Mercury Theatre of Julius Caesar. As he says to any who ask, Orson Welles is the boss, larger than life with appetites to match. The production is raced to open, and just barely avoids major disaster. The choice of modern dress was a huge shock at the time, something we couldn't imagine these days of so many different entertainment media. It was overtly political to tie Caesar to Mussolini, of course. The cast succeeds in portraying 1937 and the problems of mounting Welles' vision. The bulk of the action was filmed in a period theatre on the Isle of Man, far from Broadway, but the 1930s feel comes from the intense stage lighting and the high-contrast filmstock. Offstage, the story is one of coming of age. Here Welles is not developed as being 24; he seems a bit older, certainly in comparison with the romantic lead (Richard age 17, played by Zac Efron). Yes, it is a classic bit of romantic comedy, but needed to lighten up the dark vision of Caesar. A quite worth flick.
Member Reviews
Read All...
What a Man, What an Ego! - MikeB
A very nicely depicted film of the U.S. in the 1930’s (centred in New York) with the musical flavour of the era. It’s about a young man (still in secondary school?) who finds a small character spot in Orson Welles’s theatre reproduction of “Julius Caesar” ...Good, well written and entertaining - lookingjust
This is a well written little historical fiction with a fairly good cast and nice production values. It's not deep, thought-provoking in particular, or even that relevant to anything in particular. But it is entertaining, especially if you know some of the ...Who is the Boss? - anglophonequebec
This tightly scripted film takes the historical fiction (of the same name) as a starting point. It follows the archetype of play-within-the-play; the action turns around the production at Mercury Theatre of Julius Caesar. As he says to any who ask, Orson Welles ...