Custom Search
3 months ago 28th Nov 08:15
Zac Efron and Claire Danes star in the new Richard Linklater film 'Me and Orson Welles', a coming-of-age drama set in 1937 New York. The film tells the story of a teenager (Zac Efron) who is plucked off the streets and hired to star in Orson Welles' production of 'Julius Caesar'. Zac's character becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant played by Claire Danes and although Richard is eventually sacked from the theatre, he leaves with a whole new perspective on life.
The film, which is based on Robert Kaplow's young adult novel of the same name, blends fictional characters with real ones. Zac Efron plays a fictional Richard Samuels who is given a small part in Orson's play, which truly was performed, to great success, at New York's Mercury Theater.
Zac, 22 - who first found fame in Disney films such as 'High School Musical' and 'Hairspray' is already a huge hit with teenage audiences - and joined the cast of 'Me and Orson Welles' in what is being considered a break-out role for the young actor.
In a similar move, Claire Danes, 30 - who first made her name in the television series 'My So-Called Life' and is most well known for her performance in 'Romeo and Juliet' - has regarded this role as a comeback performance. Claire - who has had a couple of years off from big screen roles has recently been making a name for herself on stage instead.
BANG Showbiz spoke to Claire and Zac about why the film appealed to them, how it was to work as on-screen lovers, as well as reflecting back on the career moves they've previously made.
Q: Zac did you feel this was your time to break out from the mould that we'd had you in for the past few years with the 'High School Musical' films?
ZAC: Yes, I recognised that this was a pretty unique opportunity and I remember when I got the phone call that Rick had a script that he would like me to read, and I was so excited that I remember running home to read the script. And I read it and I was very pleasantly surprised that the part was pretty big and that wasn't exactly what I'd expected. I was me, which was pretty cool. I could be me. So I was very excited and yes I was looking for that opportunity not to necessarily change my image or anything but for a good role that was a new challenge, that was something fresh and interesting. This was it.
Q: Were you concerned at all that your teenage fan base would not have even heard of Orson Welles?
ZAC: Not really concerned. I thought this was a good opportunity to reveal to them the genius that is Orson Welles, you know perhaps the fans that don't know about Orson will maybe have more of an opinion when they start to study it at school, more of a perspective into the early life of this American icon.
Q: Claire, your character sort of hovers on the outside and doesn't get involved - would you say she's more of an organiser?
CLAIRE: Yes organising things or creating chaos in the life of one young man. That was never intentional, but yes I play Orson's girl and she's very ambitions and very forth right about that, she's unapologetically so.
Q: What was it like to flirt with Zac Efron?
CLAIRE: Tough. It was amazing, firstly the dialogue was very special, and it's very rare to find writing of this quality. It's very witty and engaging and I had a lot of fun with this, mincing around on stage but yes scenes like that were very tender and Zac's amazing.
Certain things just happen and it's undeniable that you go that way but I don't have a specific path I'm following
ZAC: Yeah, the dialogue made me look really good.
CLAIRE: No! I was really delighted to discover how fine an actor he is. It's true really. And he can move very well. We did some dancing lessons for that brief scene in the dance hall and that was very humbling. Zac was much quicker than I was - a co-ordinated guy.
ZAC: It was the first time I actually led. It was great.
Q: You shot the film in a theatre in the Isle of Man ... Zac, how was that for you?
ZAC: It was great. I was looking forward to that seclusion. From what I'd heard it was a pretty cool place and that there weren't a lot of people there you know, I can't tell you how appealing that sounded. Anyways, I found out there's a whole lot of people there. And we met most of them. I mean I felt pretty welcome.
CLAIRE. Yes, I don't think anybody has been better received.
ZAC: It was fun, though we couldn't really go outside.
CLAIRE: I went on walks but it was February and it was very wet and cold but I was determined to enjoy the nature there.
ZAC: We couldn't really leave the theatre; we were there a whole lot. I've never been in a theatre so much, day and night, day and night.
CLAIRE: And also the theatre is literally next door, directly adjacent to the hotel we were staying in.
ZAC: There was a tunnel.
CLAIRE: You didn't even have to go outside to go from your room to the theatre.
ZAC: We never went outside, it was great.
Q: Zac's character gets this huge opportunity by this bizarre audition in the middle of the street. What's the worst or the best audition that you've all experienced?
CLAIRE: Well I have to say, I auditioned for 'Dazed and Confused' when I was 12 and I got a couple of call backs and on the last one I had a bike tour in New York on that day and I biked 60 miles or something and was beat red by the time I got to the audition. I was exhausted... I showered. I don't think I was at my best!
ZAC: Oh yes, I'm full of them. My first audition ever, was for the live action movie 'Peter Pan.' It was my first experience and I had just done the play so I thought, 'Who could be better?'. It was a young production and we were all relatively young and I wasn't even playing Peter, I was playing John but I watched this amazing actor play Peter so I showed up to the audition, it was on tape and was this small little couch. A tiny room, the audition rooms they put you in are very small. And yes on stage you speak to the back of the room, you project, and I had to be very animated, and in the Peter Pan play there's lots of dancing around... so I was jumping off things and acting crazy like lost boys you know, so that's what I did in the audition. I ran around, I jumped on my chair and started singing lines. Then when we finished she interrupted me and she goes, "You've never done this before have you." And I said, "No, not at all," and she said "OK you can go." That was the worst audition I ever had in my entire life, and that was completely my fault because I thought I was auditioning for the play.
Q: Claire, you're not on-stage with Orson in the film but how do you think you would have coped with me being directed by someone like Orson?
CLAIRE: Well, I was reminded of myself in the movie a few days ago, again, having not seen it for a year and I thought what a good director Orson must have been because he's brazen and a little insensitive but he's also incredibly specific about what he wants and perceptive about the actors that are playing the roles, so any direction that's that astute is very helpful. So I imagine, I would like to think I would have responded well, but who knows. I don't ever feel combated with my directors, I love working with directors, I need them. I get anxious when a director is not really making them self available. You know some are more involved than others and I prefer the former.
Q: On another note, Zac, Is was said that you pulled out of 'Footloose' because you wanted to change the direction your career was going in, is that true?
ZAC: 'Footloose' didn't happen for a number of reasons but I think to be honest it felt like territory that I'd already explored, I felt like I'd been there before, as opposed to trying something brand new which is a bit probably riskier, it was a whole lot scarier but so much more interesting I think.
Q: Do you have a master plan or do you see yourself dipping in and out of musicals, comedies, the whole lot?
ZAC: I'm not sure; it's kind of a day-to-day thing. I'm very specific about scripts that I like but you know I don't have a masterplan or a game plan. I don't have a chart that I'm following or anything like that; I'm very much playing it by ear. Certain things just happen and it's undeniable that you go that way but I don't have a specific path I'm following.
Q: How much notice you all take of your own reviews and how you feel when you get a bad review?
CLAIRE: Awesome. I think generally it's a good idea not to because they're not critics, they're not written for you and for your benefit as the artist so it's just not very useful.
Q: Looking back at your work, what do you think is your best work and how do you think you've changed as actors?
CLAIRE: How have I changed? I'm not sure. I think I probably feel more comfortable asking for things that I need in a project, I feel able to assert myself. I used to worry that that was a sign of arrogance but now I know it's a sign of responsibility. So I sense what I need and I know that it's OK for those needs to me. It's funny, the things that people have appreciated over time tend to be the things that I am reminded of and kind of return to so think of as being good. So public opinion does sort of form, without me even being aware of it, my own personal opinion of the work that I've done. I think the things that have excited people the most, like 'Romeo and Juliet' I guess those were the things that were the most successful because they resonated the loudest and the longest. I don't know, I had a lot of fun doing 'U-Turn' but that didn't capture people's opinions. That was really weird ands kind of cool. I don't know, I often gauge the success of a performance too by how much I felt I kind of expanded through it. So I did a play on Broadway just before, which was you know, the opinions were really polarized, some people hated it, some people really liked it but I learned an enormous amount and also learned that I really enjoy working in theatre as well.
Q.: From the sprinkler scene in the film to someone falling over on stage, are there any funny stories about what happened whilst you were filming this?
ZAC: I have to be really careful! Putting on a play there was a bunch of actors on stage all day and you know we'd kind of take on an alter-ego after about six o'clock at night. We'd kind of go stir crazy from being in there all the time so I think one thing that I'll never forget was the ukulele instrument we had. One of the guys in the cast is really good on the ukulele so he would kind of improvise. And we would all improvise songs about people on the cast and just kind of like sing. We made one about Claire.
CLAIRE: I'm really glad I wasn't there, I don't remember it!
ZAC: See what we would say is like, "Where's Claire? Claire's not there, Claire has the prettiest hair." That's one thing that I'll never forget but it's not really a great story. It's clean though.
Q: On another note, Zac, Is was said that you pulled out of 'Footloose' because you wanted to change the direction your career was going in, is that true?
ZAC: 'Footloose' didn't happen for a number of reasons but I think to be honest it felt like territory that I'd already explored, I felt like I'd been there before, as opposed to trying something brand new which is a bit probably riskier, it was a whole lot scarier but so much more interesting I think.
Q: Do you have a master plan or do you see yourself dipping in and out of musicals, comedies, the whole lot?
ZAC: I'm not sure; it's kind of a day-to-day thing. I'm very specific about scripts that I like but you know I don't have a masterplan or a game plan. I don't have a chart that I'm following or anything like that; I'm very much playing it by ear. Certain things just happen and it's undeniable that you go that way but I don't have a specific path I'm following.
Your Comments:
Be the first to comment!