Me and Orson Welles

Richard Linklater revisits Orson Welles’s theatre company and puts Zac Efron centre stage. It’s a crazy combination says Stieg Ingarsson, but by gawd, it might just work.

If you were making a film set in 1937 about the Mercury Theatre and the great Orson Welles, I somehow doubt that the cheeky teen star of the High School Musical franchise would be top of your list for a central role. But then you’re not Richard Linklater. The man behind such arthouse favourites as Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly, Before Sunrise and School Of Rock (ahem) is back with Me And Orson Welles, and his leading man is non other than Zac Efron himself. Fortunately, and before you all burst blood vessels, our Zac is cast in the role of the ‘Me’ of the title, rather than the fiery giant of stage and screen.

Efron is Richard Samuels, a kid still in school but with big dreams of stardom, who stumbles into a production of Julius Caesar through some nifty snare drum work and an ad jingle. Once in, and with the small part of Lucius his own (a role that mainly involves playing a ukelele disguised as a lute), he is on a rollercoaster of confrontation, romance and theatre, darling, as the Mercury company tries to get the doors open on time.

Starting relatively slowly, the film initially overindulges on the thespian references, with lots of knowing in-jokes about the theatre. The one thing actors seemingly struggle to do well is play actors; they are too hammy in their self-parody, perhaps needing to emphasise the subtlety of their own performances. But once it has settled in, the company is strong, with a brilliant turn from Ben Chaplin as an over-confident star who suffers from severe panic attacks; and some engaging stuff from the rapidly rising Leo Bill.

Claire Danes plays Sonja – the theatre administrator assigned to the role of minding young Samuels – and does so with some aplomb. She is always believable as the object of the actors’ lustful desires, a hard-headed woman who does whatever is necessary necessary to further her career. But you can’t talk about this film without flying the flag for the two male leads. Zac Efron is a revelation. Likeable and compelling to watch, you’ll be rooting for him throughout (despite the occasional desire to holler ‘Go Wildcats’ when things go well). It’s impossible to say, yet, whether he will ever shake off High School Musical but in taking this role, he has taken a large step towards establishing himself as a serious actor.

And another serious actor is required to play the biggest role of them all, Orson Welles himself. Christian McKay, a star of the boards rather than the silver screen, is quite simply brilliant in the role of a loud, brash bully who no-one likes but everyone respects. It’s no surprise he’s been nominated for a British Independent Film Award for most promising newcomer. His presence fills the screen and the whole experience seems somehow smaller when he is absent.

Stylistically, the film is fabulous. The costumes, the sets, the props all recreate the Big Apple atmosphere of the 1930s, and a Duke Ellington-led soundtrack completes the effect beautifully.

Me and Orson Welles is a good film: it’s warm, entertaining and amusing. It’s not, however, a great film. I struggled to see the need for what must have been a ten minute montage of the play towards the end. It’s a common flaw of plays within film:s either we have been told how wonderful the production is, and then it fails to impress, or as in this case, after an hour or so of self-parody the cast appear determined to prove that they can do Shakespeare. The abridged Julius Caesar they put on may mollify their egos, but it does so at a cost to the film’s pace. Some of the casting was also questionable. Eddie Marsan’s harassed theatre manager, for example, fails to convince.

It’s another positive addition to the Linklater canon. He’s a director who is becoming more diverse with every film he makes, and this one has the advantage of introducing the unknown McKay, who could well clutching a variety of statuettes come the new year. It's not for everyone, and Efron’s legions of fans will likely be left cold, but anyone with even a passing interest in theatre, or indeed the era, will find something to cherish in it.

Rating on a scale of 5 stage-door autograph hunters: 3

Release date: US: 25 November, UK: TBC
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Written by: Holly Gent Palmo, Robert Kaplow, Vincent Palmo Jr
Cast: Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes, Zac Efron, Christian McKay, Eddie Marsan
Rating: PG-13 (US)
Running time: 113 mins