'The film gods were smiling on us when we found Christian'
The principal players of new movie Me and Orson Welles were in London to talk up the movie. Unfortunately, Doug Cooper found the press conference at the Soho Hotel to be a decidedly subdued and tedious affair ...
Zac Efron was shy and unassuming, Claire Danes came out with little more than platitudes, and director Richard Linklater wasn't overexcited discussing his opus. Only newcomer Christian McKay injected some life into the proceedings.
He plays Orson Welles in this sweetly entertaining effort. Clad smartly in suit and tie he said of Welles: "He had the confidence of ignorance. I had the ignorance, he had the confidence. Take the mask of Welles off and I was like jelly." An actor gainfully unemployed, someone suggested he take a one man show to Edinburgh. Who to do he asked? Orson Welles. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm not fat. I could do Richard Burton" – he does a very good Burton impression – "or Peter Sellers, Winston Churchill or Kenneth Williams." He does a fine Williams impersonation, too.
Linklater discovered him and cast him. "I feel the film gods were smiling on us when we found Christian. I like a big performance. I think what Christian did here was extraordinary," the director said. Yawn.
Efron, casually wearing jeans and T-shirt, plays a student actor who idolises Welles. Asked if it was a big jump from High School Musical, the young star responded: "I recognised that this was a unique opportunity. I was pleasantly surprised that the role was pretty big. I was looking for a role that was a new challenge." Yawn.
Claire Danes was polite. "I play Orson's girl Friday" - who has a fling with Efron. What was it like flirting with him? "Tough" she quips.
The cast and crew spent three weeks on the Isle of Man shooting scenes. What did they think of the place? Efron: "It was great. I was looking forward to the seclusion." Danes: "I went on walks but it was February and very wet." McKay: "My parents conceived me on the Isle of Man so it's a special place for me."
Do they read reviews? "Reading reviews would drive you mad," McKay says. "The film played at Toronto and there were 500 reviews, ranging from Roger Ebert to an 8-year-old blogger in his garage."
Danes was asked how she's changed since she first began in the business. "I probably feel more comfortable asking for things I need on a project," she replies.
They were also asked about their worst auditions. Efron said: "My first audition ever was for this Peter Pan live action film when I was 15 and I'd just done the play Peter Pan so I thought 'who could be better'. I showed up and it was on tape in this tiny room. On stage you speak to the back of the room and you project and Peter Pan is very animated and jumping off things and going crazy so that's what I did in the audition, running around and jumping off my chair, singing the lines.
"This woman interrupted me and goes 'you've never done this before have you?' and I went 'no' and she went 'okay you can go' and that was the worst audition ever, ever in my life. I kind of wept about that one."
McKay says: "I once had an audition for an Ikea ad where I had to beat up a sofa. Bloody awful. I didn't get it."
When asked if there were any funny stories to relate over the making of the film, they all clam up. They obviously had a good time but are unwilling to share any stories with the hacks. By this time I was half asleep. The film's good, but I don't have any enthusiasm to attend a press conference ever again ...
• Me and Orson Welles is out in the UK on December 4