Exclusive Interview: Zac Efron and Richard Linklater on ME AND ORSON WELLES; Plus Zac Addresses DEATH NOTE Rumors

Opening this Wednesday, in limited release, is director Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles.  Based in real theatrical history, the film is a coming-of-age story about a teenage actor (Zac Efron) who lucks into a role in Julius Caesar as it’s being re-imagined by a brilliant, impetuous young director named Orson Welles (Christian McKay) at his newly-founded Mercury Theater in NYC, 1937.  Claire Danes co-stars as Sonja Jones, the unapologetically ambitious assistant to Welles who Zac tries to go after.

While the film premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, it took awhile for someone to purchase it for domestic distribution.  While a delay might be a sign of a problem, I thought Me and Orson Welles was great and definitely recommend checking it out.  So to help promote the film, I recently sat down with Zac Efron and Richard Linklater and they talked about why it took awhile for the film to get released, Orson Welles, making the film, and Zac addresses the Death Note manga rumors.  Check it out after the jump:

Finally, here are some clips and the trailer for Me and Orson Welles.

Zac Efron and Richard Linklater

• Toronto Film Festival premiere last year.  Was it surprising how long it took to get out there
• We talk about how the industry has been changing for independent films
• Orson Welles talk - what did they know about him and how did their opinions change making the film
• What drew Zac to the project and what was it like to work for Linklater
• I ask Zac if it’s true that he might be doing a manga movie called Death Note

-