Enter Richard Linklater, the director of such distinctly un-Wellesian movies as "Dazed and Confused" and "School of Rock," who last year made a film called "Me and Orson Welles" that was recently released on DVD. Based on a 2003 novel by Robert Kaplow, the movie is a coming-of-age screwball comedy in which Zac Efron, lately of "High School Musical," plays a stage-struck high-school senior who unexpectedly finds himself playing a bit part in "Julius Caesar." Don't snicker: Christian McKay's Welles impersonation is so accurate as to be spooky, and despite the film's obligatory (albeit charming) rom-com trappings, I've never seen a backstage movie that was truer to the experience of putting on a show.
Read the whole thing then go out and rent the movie. You won't be disappointed with either.
No comments:
Post a Comment