Review of Me and Orson Welles (2008) by Gustavo G — 30 Sep 2010

I didnâ??t know what to expect from this movie, being that I never heard about it until I saw it on the store shelves. â??Me and Orson Wellesâ?? is a book adaptation about an 18-year old boy, who - upon random luck - lands a role in the first, upcoming Broadway production of William Shakespeareâ??s Julius Caesar, directed by Orson Welles.

This has a similar feeling to the Academy Award winning picture, â??Shakespeare in Love,â?? but with not as much love and emotion. Zac Efron plays the role of Richard, who has dreams about becoming an actor in New York during the late 1930â??s, and develops feelings for the playâ??s directorâ??s assistant (Claire Danes). The director, Orson Welles (played by Christian McKay) is eccentric and is rampages throughout the movie as he tries to get his play into an acceptable performance for the very first production at the Mercury Theater.

Christian McKay does a fine job at capturing the personality of Orson Welles - one of the most famous actors/writers of the time. The passion for certain acting attributes, set designing, and the radical editing techniques in famous Shakespeare plays that Orson Welles had is portrayed in McKayâ??s acting so well, that you start to get a glimpse as to how notorious this director was in the eyes of Hollywood and the theater community.

This is something very different for Zac Efron. The former â??High School Musicalâ?? star opted for this role because it was something totally different from his previous jobs. He does show some acting potential and he could possibly become a serious actor in his later years.

Unfortunately, this movie was not heavily released in U.S. movie theaters - only grossing about $1 million â?? and the plot is not something that will attract a lot of viewers. For those who love the acting world and the early days of Broadway, this is a good movie that shows you the chaos and mayhem that goes behind in putting a play together.