'Me and Orson Welles' and Zac Efron

[ALIASd]

Efron hangs with 'Welles'


By Borys Kit
The Hollywood Reporter
Jan 18, 2008

Zac Efron (Getty Images photo)

Zac Efron will star in "Me and Orson Welles," an adaptation of the period coming-of-age novel by Robert Kaplow that Richard Linklater will direct.

Set in 1937, the story centers on a high school student (Efron) who, while strolling the streets of New York, happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and is noticed by its mercurial founder, Orson Welles. The man lands a bit part in "Julius Caesar," the production that catapulted Welles to the top, and spends the next week learning about life and love.

Newcomer Christian McKay will play Welles. Ben Chaplin ("Water Horse: The Legend of the Deep") has been cast as English film and stage actor George Coulouris.

The script was written by Holly Gent Palmo, who was a production coordinator on Linklater's "Dazed and Confused," and Vince Palmo, who was first assistant director on several of the helmer's films.

Anne Carli, who worked on Linklater's "Fast Food Nation," is a producer on the project, which is independently financed.

With "Welles," Efron continues to show that he is more than a one-trick pony by rounding out his acting curriculum vitae beyond his "High School Musical" identity. The actor will return to shooting the New Line comedy "Seventeen" after he recovers from his appendectomy.

Efron then will shoot "Welles," a more mature piece of work, in mid-February and March in such locales as New York, London and the Isle of Man, whose Gaiety Theatre is being booked for the production. He then returns to the franchise that launched him to fame, filming Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" in mid-April.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...67b080cfbafde6

[ALIASd]

Efron's Me & Orson Welles to Start Filming
Source: ComingSoon.net
February 5, 2008

Coming-of-age romantic comedy Me & Orson Welles will start principal photography in the Isle of Man on February 24th, before moving to Pinewood Studios, London locations and New York.

Zac Efron (Hairspray, "High School Musical") and Claire Danes (Stardust, Romeo & Juliet) head a starry ensemble cast in the CinemaNX production of the romantic theatrical comedy "Me & Orson Welles," to be filmed by Oscar®-nominated director Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Before Sunset).

The screenplay by Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. is based on the novel by Robert Kaplow, a coming-of-age story set in the heady world of New York theatre. Efron plays a teenage student who lucks his way into a minor role in the 1937 Mercury Theatre production of "Julius Caesar," directed by 22-year-old genius Orson Welles. In the words of Kaplow's protagonist: "This is the story of one week in my life. I was seventeen. It was the week I slept in Orson Welles's pajamas. It was the week I fell in love. It was the week I fell out of love."

Newcomer Christian McKay, an alumnus of RADA and the Royal Shakespeare Company, stars as Orson Welles, alongside Ben Chaplin (The New World, The Truth About Cats And Dogs) as George Coulouris, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan as John Houseman and Leo Bill as Norman Lloyd. The featured cast also includes Imogen Poots and National Theatre and RSC actor Aidan McArdle. Further casting to be announced.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=41660

[ALIASd]

Tupper tapped for Welles biopic


By Gregg Goldstein
The Hollywood Reporter
March 6, 2008

James Tupper (Getty Images photo)

"Men in Trees" star James Tupper will portray actor Joseph Cotten in Richard Linklater's indie biopic "Me and Orson Welles" with Claire Danes and Zac Efron.

Tupper, who recently signed with ICM for representation, will portray the star whose career was launched with roles in Welles' classic "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons." He starred in several Alfred Hitchcock films and memorably tangled with Welles in the 1949 thriller "The Third Man"

Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. adapted the screenplay from Robert Kaplow's 2003 novel, which follows a teen (Efron) who is cast in Welles' 1937 Broadway staging of "Julius Caesar" opposite Cotten. Principal photography has begun in the Isle of Man, London and New York.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...33968fa7899d0a