A new play on Orson Welles, PEARLS BEFORE SWINE to open in Sydney, Australia

Citizen Kane has a reputation as being the “best film ever made,” but less well known is its reputation for inspiring more people to become filmmakers than perhaps any other movie.   Interestingly enough, Welles career as stage actor never seemed to provide the same kind of inspiration for younger actors as it did to directors, […]

Christian McKay on playing Orson Welles – Part III

The members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have voted on this years nominees, and Christian McKay’s performance as Orson Welles has not been nominated. This is not really too much of a surprise, since there was absolutely no support for the film in terms of trade ads, or given the fact […]

Christian McKay on Orson Welles – Part II

On Tuesday morning we will find out the five nominees for best supporting actor. Might Christian McKay’s portrayal of Orson Welles be among them? We will shall know shortly… In the meantime, after talking extensively with Christian McKay when he visited San Francisco, I still found I had many unanswered questions left, so Mr. McKay […]

Christian McKay and Richard Linklater talk about the making of ME AND ORSON WELLES in a Wellesnet video now on YouTube

I thought there could be no greater accolade than getting to play Orson Welles in my first film but being Bafta-nominated is very close. I am very grateful. –Christian McKay, quoted in The Independent ******************** To celebrate Christian McKay’s BAFTA nomination as “Best Supporting Actor,” my longtime video director, Al San Miguel has posted two […]

Orson Welles Sketch Book, Episode One is shown on BBC Four about Welles’s debut at the Gate Theater in Dublin; Plus Welles expert Christian McKay on why Welles should get a star for his TV work on the Hollywood walk of fame!

The recent BBC Four showing of the first episode from Orson Welles Sketchbook dovetails nicely into something Christian McKay and I recently discussed during dinner when Mr. McKay was in San Francisco to promote Me and Orson Welles. Namely, how Welles work in television, which has probably remained the least celebrated aspect of his work, […]

Richard Linklater and Christian McKay talk about their new film, ME AND ORSON WELLES opening in 44 cities across America on December 11

Frank Lloyd Wright said architecture was the cathedral of the arts. I think the cinema is. –Nicholas Ray ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Richard Linklater’s new movie Me and Orson Welles will open in 44 cities across America on December 11 and for anyone interested in the arts, it should be a sheer delight. As Nicholas Ray notes, the […]

On Staging Shakespeare and on Shakespeare’s Stage by Orson Welles

As Me and Orson Welles expands this week to theatres across America, one of the primary audiences who may be especially interested in seeing the film and talking about it will be teachers and their students. Therefore, here is a short excerpt from Orson Welles chapter taken from Everybody’s Shakespeare, the book he wrote in […]

Chris Welles Feder and Christian McKay unveil a plaque celebrating Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater (1937 – 1941) on Broadway

Wellesnet is pleased to be able to share this exclusive report from Chris Welles Feder, who attended the New York premiere and after party of Richard Linklater’s new movie, Me and Orson Welles, due to the efforts of your obedient servant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ME AND ORSON WELLES premiere By Chris Welles Feder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The premiere was […]

San Sebastian Film Festival to present Elisabet Cabeza & Esteve Riambau’s film “Màscares,” about Richard France’s Play, OBEDIENTLY YOURS, ORSON WELLES

Màscares (Masks) Masks directed by Elisabet Cabeza and Welles’s scholar Esteve Riambau, will screen at at the San Sebastian Film festival in the “New Directors” section on September 22, 23 and 24. Anyone in Spain who sees it is encouraged to send us a report. You can see the trailer, in Spanish HERE. The program […]

Orson Welles and John Houseman on a PLAN FOR A NEW THEATRE in 1937

With the release of Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles now scheduled for November 25, 2009, here is an article Welles and John Houseman wrote for The New York Times to announce the birth of the Mercury Theatre in 1937. Updates about Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles can be found on their official Facebook […]

Sir Christopher Lee on ORSON WELLES and MOBY DICK – Rehearsed

In honor of Sir John Falstaff.… —Christopher Lee *** Queen Elizabeth II of England has bestowed Knighthood honors on one of my very favorite actors, SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE, who is well known to Wellesnet readers for appearing in Orson Welles’s never finished television movie Moby Dick-Rehearsed. Lee was also was featured in Anthony Shaffer’s The […]

John Gielgud on Orson Welles and making CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

In these excerpts from Sir John Gielgud’s wonderful book, A Life in Letters, which covers his entire career from 1930 to 1999, we get to see how his view of Orson Welles changed, starting from when he first saw Citizen Kane in 1941, to his being somewhat put off by Welles’s antics at their first […]

Staging Orson Welles: an interview with Jack Marshall on NATIVE SON, MOBY DICK–REHEARSED and THE CRADLE WILL ROCK

Interview with JACK MARSHALL Artistic Director of The American Century Theatre, on their production of Native Son ************************** By LESLIE WEISMAN ************************** It’s alright to steal from each other, what we must never do is steal from ourselves. –Jake Hannaford, in The Other Side of the Wind. ************************** Introduction By Lawrence French Francis Ford Coppola […]