Christian McKay and Zac Efron in Me & Orson Welles (CinemaNX Films One Ltd, 2009)

ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

SOMETIMES a single superb performance can elevate an entire film. Me & Orson Welles is a delightful true story from one of the golden periods of American theatre. It tells of a starstruck teenage in 1930s New York given his first lucky break in what would become a landmark production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

It is a story of first night nerves, triumph snatched from the jaws of defeat and the old theatre maxim that the show must go on. What makes it so special is the extraordinary performance of Christian McKay as the young Orson Welles.

Me & Orson Welles is set in 1937, when Welles himself was only twenty-two. He was already established as one of the daring young talents of radio and theatre, for whom the future knew no bounds.

Richard (Zac Efron) is a teenage drama student who secures the role of Lucius. The whole experience of the play’s production exposes him to the best and worst of Welles nature, from his warm encouragement to his callous cruelty. It also brings him under the spell of the production’s Girl Friday, Sonja (Claire Danes), who is adored by all the men, including Welles.

The film is an extremely entertaining step back in time, told with jaunty confidence and an impressive vision of New York achieved on the sound stages of the Isle Of Man. It boasts a fine all-star cast that includes Eddie Marsan as the great producer John Houseman, and Ben Chaplin as a wonderfully jittery George Couloris, who would later appear with Welles in Citizen Kane.

The real star, though, is Christian McKay, who offers an uncanny impersonation of Welles that captures multiple facets of his personality, from his undeniable charm to his twinkling sense of mischief, incredible arrogance and sheer joy at being alive and able to shape this troupe of actors to his singular vision.

Anyone who has seen the young Welles on screen or heard the older Welles on chat shows will testify that this is the finest impersonation of the man that we have ever witnessed. It is a performance that makes Me & Orson Welles irresistible.

Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Eddie Marsan, Ben Chaplin, Kelly Reilly
Screenwriter: Holly Gent Palmo based on the novel by Robert Kaplow
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 114 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2008

© Allan Hunter, 2009

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