{"id":2189,"date":"2017-01-10T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T20:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2018-08-30T20:22:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T20:22:35","slug":"theatre-in-film-me-and-orson-welles-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-me-and-orson-welles-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre in Film: Me and Orson Welles (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-header-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><h3>Theatre in Film: <i>Me and Orson Welles<\/i> (2008)<\/h3>\n<font size=\"2\" color=\"grey\"><span style=\"border:1px solid ;-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\" class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-glow imageframe-1 hover-type-none author-image\"><a class=\"fusion-no-lightbox\" href=\"http:\/\/performerstuff.com\" target=\"_self\"> <img src=\"http:\/\/mgs.performerstuff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/authorimage.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"img-responsive\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;\"\/><\/a><\/span><p>Written by Ashleigh Gardner<\/p>\n<p>January 10, 2017<\/p>\n<\/font><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-body-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\">Welcome back to Theatre in Film, our weekly featurette on a\u00a0film that showcases\u00a0a life in the theatre. In Part VI of Theatre in Film, we focus on\u00a0films from 2003 to 2008 that feature characters overcoming internal and very personal struggles to find their happiness in a life of theatre. This week, we feature <em>Me and Orson Welles<\/em>, the 2008 film about a high school student who gets a big break on Broadway&#8230;only to be beaten down after his first performance.<\/p>\n<h4><i>Me and Orson Welles<\/i>\u00a0(2008)<\/h4>\n<br><div align=\"center\"><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube\" style=\"max-width:600px;max-height:350px;\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qfYHtNMfuwQ?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div><br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Director: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richard Linklater<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Starring: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Kelly Reilly, and Ben Chaplin<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">What happens:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1937, young high school student Richard Samuels (Zac Efron) heads to downtown New York and stumbles upon an acting troupe waiting for their director &#8212; Orson Welles (Christian McKay) &#8212; outside the Mercury Theatre. They are in rehearsals for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Julius Caesar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and after testing Samuels\u2019 musical abilities, casts Samuels as Lucius, the lute player. A few weeks into the production, Welles tells Samuels that he\u2019s worried about the production &#8212; he hasn\u2019t had any pre-show bad luck yet, \u201cthe bad luck thing,\u201d the kind of bad luck that makes the production go well. Days later, Samuels accidentally sets of the sprinklers during one rehearsal and blames it on the \u201cbad luck thing\u201d Welles talks about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day before she show opens, the production is in shambles. Scenes are cut, actors are berated, and the set designer is threatening to tear up the stage after he\u2019s not credited. The producer ensures the cast that the show will be brilliant, but they\u2019re not convinced&#8230;until opening night receives a standing ovation. However, promptly after the show is over for the night, Samuels finds out the Welles has fired him. The kid returns to his school the following day and recites Shakespeare during a lecture on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Julius Caesar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He is met with a round of applause from his peers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Why it matters:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead of focusing on the romantic sub-plot involving Claire Danes\u2019 character, Sonja Jones, the most important theme to concentrate on is the panic that most of us feel just prior to opening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether or not we\u2019ve worked with directors who insist on cutting, over rehearsing, or re-blocking entire sections of the script just before opening night, we can all get behind the notion that when we feel unprepared to perform, we\u2019re going to feel terrified to open a show. The next question we ask ourselves is, \u201cHow do we overcome this fear?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Samuels\u2019 case, there\u2019s not much he can do except learn his lines, his blocking, and his song in preparation for his performance. But for others it\u2019s not so easy; George Coulouris (Ben Chaplin) works himself into a panic attack before the curtain rises, and Welles has to venture backstage to convince Coulouris that he\u2019s good enough to do the role. After having a drink (forced upon him by Welles) and a good cry, Coulouris sets himself down privately and gives himself a good pep talk, reminding himself that he\u2019s the man for the job. It\u2019s moments like Coulouris\u2019 that actors experience on a day-to-day basis; we\u2019re backstage where audiences can\u2019t see our fear. In those moments, it\u2019s up to us to convince ourselves that we can influence the success of the show by taking responsibility for our roles. Through that ownership, we make the show the best it can be.<\/span><\/p>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\">This film is the fifth film in\u00a0Part VI. See below for the films\u00a0in Part VI.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-camp-2003\/\"><em>Camp\u00a0<\/em>(2003)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-stage-beauty-2004\/\"><em>Stage Beauty<\/em>\u00a0(2004)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-being-julia-2004\/\"><em>Being Julia<\/em>\u00a0(2005)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-white-christmas-1954\/\">Holiday Special \u2014\u00a0<em>White<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><i>Christmas\u00a0<\/i>(1954)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-mrs-henderson-presents-2005\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Mrs\u00a0Henderson\u00a0Presents\u00a0<\/em>(2005)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Want to start with\u00a0<strong>Part I<\/strong>? Begin with\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/mgs.performerstuff.com\/?p=133\">42nd Street\u00a0<\/a><\/em>(1933)<\/strong><\/span>.<br \/>\nMiss\u00a0<strong>Part II<\/strong>?\u00a0Check out\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-the-band-wagon-1953\/\"><strong><em>The Band Wagon<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(1953)<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<br \/>\nNeed a refresh for\u00a0<strong>Part III<\/strong>? Start with\u00a0our feature on\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-all-that-jazz-1979\/\">All That Jazz\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/strong><strong>(1979)<\/strong><\/span>.<br \/>\nHow about a recap from\u00a0<strong>Part IV<\/strong>? Jump into\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-a-chorus-of-disapproval-1989\/\"><strong><em>A Chorus of Disapproval\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong>(1989)<\/strong><\/span>.<br \/>\nCheck out\u00a0<strong>Part V<\/strong><em>,\u00a0<\/em>and start with\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-an-awfully-big-adventure-1995\/\"><em><strong>An Awfully Big Adventure\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>(1995)<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><hr \/>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Ashleigh Gardner<\/strong>\u00a0received her AA in Theatre\/Drama\/Dramatic Arts\u00a0from Valencia College and\u00a0her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and\u00a0Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from\u00a0the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright, an actor, and PerformerStuff.com\u2019s Editor.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\">Thumbnail image from\u00a0<em>Me and Orson Welles.\u00a0<\/em>Copyright Warner Bros., 2008.<\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [...]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[259,265],"tags":[308,128,168,70,105],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}