Review of Me and Orson Welles (2008) by Max M — 09 Oct 2009

Director Richard Linklater's cinematic modus operandi has always dealt with how close-knit groups of characters interact with one another or with other groups. So for his eighteenth film he has chosen a period piece set in 1937 New York City that follows the events, as seen through the eyes of a young actor (an effective Zac Efron), leading up to the opening of the famed Mercury Theatre and the landmark staging of Julius Caesar, directed by the larger-than-life Orson Welles (Christian McKay in what is easily one of the best performances of the year).

Working from a novel by Robert Kaplow, which itself is loosely based on fact (Efron's character is, in fact, based on a young actor by the name of Arthur Anderson, who went on to become the voice for the Lucky Charms leprechaun), Linklater, and writers Vincent Palmo Jr. and Holly Gent Palmo, brilliantly recreate the blood, sweat and tears that went into creating what is considered one of the finest adaptations of Shakespeare in the American theatre.