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, […]
The Archive of American Television in partnership with E1 Entertainment has just released Orson Welles 1953 Television debut as King Lear in a deluxe DVD package. It is highly recommended, since although this historic TV show is still mastered from a kinescope copy, it looks far better than the blurry VHS copies that have long […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
In 1994 I had the great pleasure of talking with the veteran film actor Martin Landau for over two hours about his role playing Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s wonderful movie Ed Wood. Mr. Landau went on to win an Academy Award the following year. I also had the pleasure of talking with the rising […]
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 […]
Since Me and Orson Welles was written by Robert Kaplow, a New Jersey English teacher, and concerns a fictional student who discovers the world of the lively arts in 1937 New York, it’s only fitting that the movie will become a subject in classroom discussions. To this end, Film Education in the UK has put […]
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 […]
Christian McKay and Richard Linklater spent one-and-a-half days in San Francisco to talk about their new film Me and Orson Welles and dazzled the preview audience at the Embarcadero Center Cinemas. Having arrived in SF from the Austin premiere the night before, the San Francisco event was a much more low-key affair, since teen heart-throb […]
Richard Linklater and Christian McKay talked about their new film Me and Orson Welles for nearly an hour after a preview screening in San Francisco on December 2. In the excerpt below they recall some details of Welles’s production of Julius Caesar, related to them by the only two cast members of the play who […]
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 […]
Many thanks to Paul Condon of Dublin, Ireland for alerting us to the retrospective of Orson Welles films that will be screening in Dublin this month under the auspices of The Irish Film Institute. Chimes at Midnight is one of only three Welles’ movies that will not be shown, the others being Othello and Filming […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Simon Callow, who is a great friend of Wellesnet, has sent along the biggest contribution I’ve yet to receive towards helping keep the site active and alive on the web. I know I’ve mentioned to everyone who has contributed to Wellesnet that we hope to add more pictures to the site in the future. Well, […]
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 […]
