Saturday Night Cinema

Me and Orson Welles
Date: 2009
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Zac Efron, Claire Daines and Christian Mckay

A teenager suddenly finds himself cast in the revolutionary  1937 production the Mercury Theatre and more importantly Orson Welles' production  of Julius Caesar.

I wouldn't watch this with my kids but all in all it is a pretty clean movie.  Miracle of miracles a modern day production about show business that DOES NOT have a homosexual story line.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

An odd choice for the revival of Saturday Night Cinema, perhaps, but I recommend this movie for two reasons; the first being that for the first time since 1997 I found myself wanting to be part of a play again.  To be in the rehearsal process, even to act again.  That is powerful stuff. 

Second, I completely forgot that I wasn't actually wasn't actually watching Orson Welles.  After I watched the movie I was looking up the cast and saw the credit "Christian McKay."  "Who was that?" I asked myself when it dawned on me that Orson Welles was actually played by an actor, not himself.

I think that completely forgetting that one of the most distinctive film personas in history was being acted by an actor is a reason to watch a movie.

5 out of 7 thimbles for the film 7 out of 7 for Christian McKay.

P.S.  This is actually Orson Welles in case you forget what he looks like.