UNITED KINGDOM: Stars walk red carpet for the London premiere of "Me and Orson Welles"
Record ID:
218827
UNITED KINGDOM: Stars walk red carpet for the London premiere of "Me and Orson Welles"
- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Stars walk red carpet for the London premiere of "Me and Orson Welles"
- Date: 20th November 2009
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 18, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTIAN MCKAY, PLAYS ORSON WELLES, SAYING: "We did an old fashioned screen test together and he (director Richard Linklater) never watched it. He was convinced. It would have been much easier to cast a famous star and when I first met him and he started talking to me about Orson, I gave him a list of famous Hollywood stars who could play him and it would've much easier for Richard to have chosen one of them. He would have gotten the funding easier, etcetera, but he stuck with me and that tells you something about the man." DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER, ON WHETHER EFRON'S STARDOM WILL OVERSHADOW THE MOVIE, SAYING: "Not really. I didn't really think about it that way. Selfishly, as a director I wanted to find the best actor I could, someone who could go toe-to-toe with Orson Welles which is pretty hard to do. Welles is one of the bigger personalities in the last couple centuries so I needed someone with that kind of charisma, with that leading man... and Zac had that."
- Embargoed: 5th December 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA70MYO3CQFTZB8CTBK6YHW0T41
- Story Text: Zac Efron takes his first steps away from musicals and into serious acting, starring opposite Claire Danes in Richard Linklater's film "Me and Orson Welles."
Zac Efron, Claire Danes, and Ben Chaplin attended the European premiere of Richard Linklater's new film "Me and Orson Welles" on Wednesday (November 18).
Efron plays Richard Samuels, a 17-year-old boy with a love of the arts who gets the chance of a lifetime to work with the great Orson Welles, played by British actor Christian McKay, who has an uncanny resemblance to the filmmaker and actor.
Samuels plays a minor role in the young Welles' 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar and has a tumultuous week where he becomes enveloped in the heady world of Broadway, falls in love with an older woman played by Claire Danes, and comes face-to-face in a heated argument with Welles.
In only his second film after the hugely popular High School Musical franchise, Efron said it was difficult to leave the role that catapulted him into stardom but is now looking to a more varied career.
"I'm definitely sad to see the end of it (High School Musical) but I think it's all about progression and growing and trying new things. This is definitely the next step in that journey for me. I'm really excited, I can't wait for everybody to see this movie and hear their thoughts. Hopefully they can learn something from the film, a little bit about Orson Welles, the history of Broadway. It's pretty fascinating, it's a fun film," Efron told Reuters Television.
But the actor said he wasn't necessarily rushing into more mature roles.
"I don't want to force it on anybody. If it's going to happen, it'll happen naturally. I'm just trying to do movies that I want to watch. I'm just following my heart, that's all I can do," he said.
Danes plays the ambitious Sonja Jones, a secretary in the Mercury Theatre production office. She uses her womanly wiles to try to get ahead in the tough world of showbusiness, with Welles, his business partner John Houseman as well as the legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick amongst the men with whom she has affairs.
"She (Her character Sonja Jones) is ambitious and I actually admire her ambition. She's very bright and unapologetically hungry to succeed and very forthright about it and doesn't worry about concealing it. It's something I actually appreciate about her but other people might find it offensive or degrading or something," Danes said.
Newcomer McKay plays the larger-than-life Welles, who's genius was matched only by his temperament and ego. The filmmaker and actor is widely considered to be the greatest director of all time and McKay said he was honoured that Linklater offered him the role.
"We did an old fashioned screen test together and he (director Richard Linklater) never watched it. He was convinced. It would have been much easier to cast a famous star and when I first met him and he started talking to me about Orson, I gave him a list of famous Hollywood stars who could play him and it would've much easier for Richard to have chosen one of them. He would have gotten the funding easier, etcetera, but he stuck with me and that tells you something about the man," he said of Linklater.
The director, who first started his career with a cult following from independent films "Dazed and Confused", "Before Sunrise" and "A Scanner Darkly" went into Hollywood mainstream with "The School of Rock". But he said he wasn't worried that Efron would overshadow the rest of the movie with his A-list status.
"Not really. I didn't really think about it that way. Selfishly, as a director I wanted to find the best actor I could, someone who could go toe-to-toe with Orson Welles which is pretty hard to do. Welles is one of the bigger personalities in the last couple centuries so I needed someone with that kind of charisma, with that leading man... and Zac had that," said Linklater.
British actress Kelly Reilly, who has played a number of supporting roles in mostly British films, said women have an easier time breaking into showbusiness today versus 1937, when the film was set.
"I think if you're good enough it will shine through and you got to be a good person I think. I think the roles are out there. I wish there were more. But they're there. They are there. But you also have to look at the roles that aren't there and make something more of the roles that are there. You have to take initiative," she said.
The actress is also set to play a supporting role in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes". She said she adored working with the film's lead, Robert Downey, Jr.
"He's so playful and very smart and he just makes things come alive. I think he's so talented and I love watching him, so to actually play, that's what I feel we do," she said.
"Me and Orson Welles" opens in British cinemas on December 4. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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