One of the owners of “The London Swing Cats” posted on the Swing Junction message board (on 1 April & 7 April 2008) that they are looking for dance extras for Me and Orson Welles to film on 11 April 2008. Based on this it seems likely that Zac is at least until then in the UK (no info is available if it might be even longer – nobody knows at the moment when Me and Orson Welles will wrap filming).
Obviously it doesn’t state if Zac will be there but considering that he is in almost all the scenes in the book I would assume he is. Based on this info, it looks like we will see Zac dancing two classic dances from the 1930’s. I’m looking forward to see that.
The Croydon Guardian posted an article on Friday, 4 April 2008, that Me and Orson Welles was filming all day in the Crystal Palace Park. Filming should wrap soon though.
Film makers find Crystal Palace Park to be the perfect setting
By Cara Lee
Crystal Palace Park was transformed into a bustling film set today, much to the excitement of the park’s users and nearby residents.
After speculation mounted about what was happening in the park, it was revealed the historic site was being used to shoot scenes for Me and Orson Welles, which stars A-listers Clare Danes, Ben Chapman and Zac Efron.
A spokesman for CinemaNX, the company making the film, confirmed filming was being carried out around the steps leading up to the site of the old Crystal Palace, which was bombarded with members of the crew and cast, including Zac Efron and Zoe Kazan who play the lead roles. A facade of New York’s Mercury Theatre was set up there for the scene.
He said the crew will only be at the site today.
The film, directed by Richard Linklater, is a coming-of-age romantic comedy set in the 1930s about a teenager, played by Zac Efron, who is cast in the Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar, directed by a young Orson Welles.
Variety has an interesting article about Framestore, a leading F/X company, which has started producing movies now as well. One of the first pics in question is Me and Orson Welles. The article mentions that Framestore does not only invest in the movie as executive producer but also provides it’s technical expertise – providing technology which is normally not available to lower budget movies.
This of course make me wonder what special effects we will get to see in M&OW. Having read the book there are not many scenes which I would imagine fx would be used – the sprinkler scene comes to mind but other than that…; on the other hand, I don’t know anything about filming a movie so there are probably many situations where the movie could benefit. Here’s the article:
F/X house going into producing Framestore backing Linklater ‘Orson Welles’
Fresh from winning its first Oscar for the armored bears and icy wastes of “The Golden Compass,” U.K. visual effects house Framestore CFC is dipping its toe into film production in its own right.
The company’s new Framestore Features arm is backing Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles,” currently shooting on the Isle of Man, a coming-of-ager set in 1930s Broadway starring Zac Efron; Chris Smith’s supernatural thriller “Triangle,” set to roll next month in Australia; and a slate of five genre movies from new Northern Irish outfit Generator Entertainment, starting with Paddy Breathnach’s “Red Mist.”
Framestore is investing in the movies as an exec producer — but more importantly, it is providing its technical expertise to open up creative horizons for filmmakers operating at budget levels where state-of-the-art f/x are not usually an option.
A girl on Zefron.com has been an extra on the set of Me and Orson Welles on the 7th and 9th of March and posted on 10 March 2008 about her experience.
She was part of the theatre audience and talked about the filming of the Richard (Zac) and Orson (Welles) stage scene where Zac’s character plays the ukulele and sings as well as the curtain call and that they shot a lot of audience reaction shots.
Here is a composition of her posts:
I spent the 7th and 9th March on set at the Gaiety Theatre in the Isle of Man as an extra, a member of the theatre audience watching the 1937 performance of Julius Ceasar at the Mercury Theatre. Here’s a summary of what we got up to.
There are two more cast members for Me and Orson Welles.
First, according to the production database at the Hollywoodreporter, Zoe Kazan is also member of the cast. This looks like a promising casting – while not well known she has been staring in several movies with fantastic casts.
I’m wondering what she will play. I always thought that Imogen Poots would play Gretta but now I’m not so sure anymore. Considering that Zoe lives in NYC, I could imagine that she plays Gretta and Imogen has a part in the theatre/Orson Welles part of the movie. Or perhaps we get to see Caroline after all. We’ll see.
Additionally, Matthew Cottle has been seen on set dressed in period clothes so I guess it’s save to assume that he’ll be in there as well; his role is not known yet either.
IoM Today published an article on 6 March 2008 about “Me and Orson Welles” based on the press conference I’ve been posting about the other day. Mostly a recap of the video; it doesn’t contain a lot of new info but it confirms that filming will take place in PineWood (only) after they wrap in IoM and then move on to NYC. And they have the big stage play this Sunday with 570 extras in the audience. It does have some interesting information about how the Gaiety theatre works well as double for the Mercury.
Zac Efron – what’s all the fuss about?
By ANGELA GREGORY
UNLESS you’re a girl under the age of 17, or a parent, it’s entirely possible you had no idea who Zac Efron or what High School Musical was until the past couple of weeks.
There was a short press conference on Sunday, 2 March 2008 in the Sefton Hotel on the Isle of Man with the Me and Orson Welles director and producers Richard Linklater, Ann Carli and Marc Samuelson. They talk about how IoM managed to get the production onto the island and how the Gaiety Theatre is a really good location for it.
IoM Today has a very brief article about it here and the link to the original video is here. In the article there are also press pics with the producers and Zac but they are not really ‘relevant’ for the movie, so you have to get them directly there. For your convenience (and people who have problems with embedded Windows Media Player) here is the video of the press conference as YouTube video:
The Isle of Man Film has published a page about “Me and Orson Welles” on their website. It reveals that the IoM filming will take place in the Gaiety Theatre from 24 February to 14 March 2008. That will at least partly include filming on the weekend – at least one of the extras casting calls was scheduled for a Sunday. Zac has also been seen leaving LA on Sunday – most likely for London to do pre-production stuff. After the IoM part of the shoot, they are supposed to move to the Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire (close to London).
The website also has a longer synopsis of the movie:
New York, 1937: RICHARD SAMUELS (17) is bored with school and dreams of treading the boards on Broadway. After a chance encounter with a theatre company outside a derelict theatre, The Mercury, Richard soon finds himself inside chatting with Orson Welles, the Director of Broadway’s first Shakespearean production, Julius Caesar. Welles is a bullish, competitive character who is having an affair with the leading lady, MURIEL BRASSLER, despite his wife VIRGINIA’S pregnancy. Richard plays on Welles’ egotistical nature and manages to bluff his way into the role of Lucius; Welles swiftly couples him with the gorgeous production assistant SONJA JONES (20), to rehearse. […]
IoM Today had another article about the extras casting call on 31 January 2007. This time it specifically was for Zac’s movie. While it basically contains the same as the description from the extras casting agency I’ve posted about on 27 January, it does have a few new tidbits:
They need up to 800 extras: 240 people for all 3 dates (March 3, 4 and 9) and additional 390 people for March 9 (which makes it 630 extras total for that date).
9 April 2008
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