jeezbee

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.

[…]

More news from Variety (dated 31 January 2008) on Zac’s movie “Me and Orson Welles” today. Production as well as casting news…

Upfront the casting news: Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Leo Bill, Imogen Poots and Aidan McArdle. While I have to admit I’m not familiar with them, I’m still impressed with the casting of Zac’s co-stars. Looking at their IMDb pages – many of them are award-winning (stage) actors.

Claire Danes joins Linklater film

‘Me & Orson Welles’ stars Zac Efron

By ADAM DAWTREY

Claire Danes has joined Zac Efron in the cast of helmer Richard Linklater’s “Me & Orson Welles.”

CinemaNX, the new production venture backed by the Isle of Man film fund, is producing and financing the project, which starts shooting later this month in England, the Isle of Man and New York.

Adapted by Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. from Robert Kaplow’s novel, the movie is a coming-of-age romance set in the New York theater world of the 1930s.

Efron plays a teenage student who stumbles into a minor role in the Mercury Theater production of “Julius Caesar,” directed by the 22-year-old sensation Orson Welles (played by newcomer Christian McKay).

Ben Chaplin, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Leo Bill, Imogen Poots and Aidan McArdle round out the cast.

Marc Samuelson is producing for CinemaNX alongside Linklater and Ann Carli. Exec producers are Steve Christian of CinemaNX; John Sloss of Cinetic Media, who is handling North American sales; and Steve Norris of Framestore Features, which is co-financing the movie.

Odyssey Entertainment and Cinetic jointly handle international sales.

I’ve already started last night to put a post together on all the producers, financing and their connections but it’ll take me a while to finish that.. there are several links.

Update

Several other publications have also picked up the news in the meantime. It’s basically the same content, but I’ll post them here for completeness sake.

From the Hollywoodreporter (dated 1 February 2008):

New recruits sign on for ‘Orson Welles’

LONDON — Claire Danes, Eddie Marsan, Leo Bill and Imogen Poots have joined the cast of RIchard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles,” an adaptation of the period coming-of-age novel by Robert Kaplow.

They join Zac Efron and Ben Chaplin in the cast for the 1937-set movie, which centers on a high school student (Efron) who, while strolling the streets of New York, happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and is noticed by its mercurial founder, Orson Welles.

He lands a bit part in “Julius Caesar,” the production that catapulted Welles to the top, and spends the next week learning about life and love.

Newcomer Christian McKay plays Welles, and Chaplin (“Water Horse: The Legend of the Deep”) has been cast as English film and stage actor George Coulouris.

The script was penned by Holly Gent Palmo, who worked on Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused,” and Vince Palmo, who is a long time collaborator with the director.

Ann Carli is producing the film, which is scheduled to shoot on the Isle of Man, London and New York beginning in February.

With backing from the Isle of Man Film Commission and Framestore Feature, the title is produced by Marc Samuelson (“Stormbreaker,” “Wilde”), Carli and Linklater with Steve Christian, John Sloss and Steve Norris taking executive producer roles.

Cinetic Media will handle domestic sales, and Cinetic Media and Odyssey Entertainment are jointly appointed to rep foreign sales on the project.

From ComingSoon.net (dated 30 January 2008):

Cast Rounded Out for Me & Orson Welles

Claire Danes, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Leo Bill, Imogen Poots and Aidan McArdle have joined Zac Efron, Christian McKay and Ben Chaplin in Me & Orson Welles, reports Variety.

Directed by Richard Linklater, the drama starts shooting in England, the Isle of Man and New York in late February.

Adapted by Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. from Robert Kap-low’s novel, the movie is a coming-of-age romance set in the New York theater world of the 1930s.

Efron plays a teenage student who stumbles into a minor role in the Mercury Theater production of “Julius Caesar,” directed by the 22-year-old sensation Orson Welles (McKay).

It’s also in a whole bunch of other publications which I’m not going to post here. However, not surprisingly they can’t even make a summary/re-write of a news items without introducing some stupidity. Since when is a movie automatically a romantic comedy only because he contains a storyline where a protagonist falls in love with a woman?!?! Admittedly I haven’t read the book yet but from all the summaries I’ve seen, this is not a romantic comedy and that is nowhere mentioned in the original articles either. But I guess that would require those “magazines/websites” to use their brain and/or do a 5-second research which I assume is too much to ask.

The Salt Lake Tribune had and interesting article about HSM3 on 15 December 2007 (only available to subscribers now). Here’s a summary of the interesting info:

• Filming will take place in Utah from 21 April – 13 June 2008
• One filming location will be again the East High School in Salt Lake City
• They will have 41 filming days
• They will get a $2 million incentive from the state of Utah for filming there

Here’s the article (thanks to M-Chel @ Fanforum):

Another encore for ‘High School Musical’

The teen heartthrobs of “High School Musical” will dance and sing their way back to Utah to film the third installment of the blockbuster Disney franchise, it was confirmed Friday.

Shooting begins April 21 and is expected to wrap June 13, according to documents filed with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board (GOED). While the first two films premiered on the Disney Channel television network, the new movie, scheduled for release in the second half of 2008, will debut in movie theaters.

[…]