First Hit: A somewhat delightful film with an outstanding performance.
I’ve heard stories of the early Orson Welles and his dynamic personality. Later in life, as I saw this rotund man sitting in Johnny Carson’s guest chairs, I wondered how he became so famous because he didn’t seem to have much going for him while I listened to him talk with Johnny.
However in this film Christian McKay plays the early Orson to the hilt; arrogant, self assured, strong, intelligent, and clearly “the man in charge”.
The film is about the creation of Orson's Julius Cesar in his own theater on 46th Avenue in New York. McKay’s booming voice barking out orders to the actors of how they are to play each part indicated that Orson was charge. People are fired on a whim (especially if you question him) and brought back just as easily. Often his work associates had to clean up his personnel messes.
Claire Danes plays Sonja Jones, the production assistant who is clearly looking out for herself and her career. She is loyal to Orson but only for her advantage. Zac Efron plays Richard a young man who wants to be in theater and stumbles across Orson’s production of Julius Caesar.
Like Orson Richard is bold and self assured and ends with a part to fill in for a just fired actor. He takes a shine to Sonja as does everyone in the production company, and as a surprise to everyone else, she takes a shine to him.
The film is about how this production develops into its critic pleasing performance and about Orson and his driving, unforgiving personality.
McKay is outstanding as Orson and matches some of information I gathered about Orson’s early career in creating Broadway plays while also doing radio, where he was already a star. Efron, is good looking, cute and is strong enough to match McKay’s strong performance with his own. Danes is OK as a conduit of communication and Efron's love interest but nothing outstanding.
Overall: The overall direction and story line was limited in scope and therefore the film felt limited . However, McKay's Orson and the stage performance, which they were rehearsing, made the film interesting and watchable.