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Adaptation by Committee

I’m going to admit right off the bat that this movie wasn’t one of my first choices when I looked at the film list for this year’s TIFF. It was more of a plan B movie, but I wasn’t able to get tickets for Synechdoche, New York, or Zach and Miri Make a Porno, or even Pontypool: a Canadian movie that you’ve probably never heard of that was also sold out, so when I had to pick a film to use my remaining vouchers on, I chose Me and Orson Welles. It was directed by Richard Linklater – a director whose films are at least serviceable and at best, Dazed and Confused – and it’s about the guy who made Citizen Kane. I figured it was a safe bet.

After seeing it, I can safely say that Me and Orson Welles is indeed a safe bet, and that’s its biggest problem: it’s too safe. By no means is it a bad movie: it’s technically and aesthetically pleasing and it has some very solid supporting characters, including a top-notch interpretation of Welles by Christian McKay that could probably land him a best supporting actor nomination if the film it was in wasn’t so… safe.

It was adapted from the book of the same name by Richard Kaplow, and I have the slightest feeling that the adaptation process went something like this: producer reads book, calls agent – agent calls other agent, who calls writers – writers gather in a room and pick the book apart piece by piece, voting on which parts stay, which parts go, and what they should add in. It’s adaptation by committee. Somewhere down the line, a director is called in, but not until some actors and actresses have already signed on. Every decision probably went through about five different levels of approval, four of which were lawyers.

The overall goal was probably to create a film that could appeal to everyone and make its money by generating some Oscar buzz, but with every idea toned down to a PG level and nothing truly unique or remarkable to carry it, Me and Orson Welles feels as empty as the suits behind its production. I know what it’s trying to do; it’s trying to convey the feeling of being swept up in the surreal magic of the flamoyant genius that was Orson Welles, as well as the difficulty of knowing and working with him personally. All of that is in the film, but the delivery falls so flat that you never really feel it yourself, as much as you may want to.

The film’s main character is an aspiring actor who just so happens to luck out and land a role in Welles’ stage production of Caesar. The role is played by Zac Efron, whom you may know from the latest piece of propaganda for pre-teens brought to us by Disney: High School Musical. Over the course of the film, it would make sense for Efron’s character to grow and develop as he discovers the vast differences between studying acting in a classroom and performing on stage with Welles, but we never get a sense of this from Efron, who seems content to ride the same slightly fascinated/bewildered look on his face for the entire time he’s on camera.

Linklater did a solid job putting the film together, but I couldn’t help but feel like he was phoning it in, perhaps because he couldn’t do any directing without also making a million phone calls. As a result, most of Me and Orson Welles is very basic in both style and structure, very cliched. There’s nothing there to really draw you into the setting of the film or distinguish it from other 30s period pieces. Again, I’m not sure if this was actually Linklater’s fault – as I doubt he was actually allowed to do much directing on his own – but his name is attached to the film, so he does bare some responsibility for the finished product.

All in all, Me and Orson Welles proves that safe is death when you’re making a film. Aside from a few strong supporting characters, it’s hard to find any life in the film. Yes, it is technically sound and there are no major problems with the story or dialogue, but that’s only enough to make a movie mediocre; it’s not enough to make a movie worth seeing. For some reason, Me and Orson Welles doesn’t strive to be anything more than mediocre, which is the worst possible thing a movie can be. At least bad movies tend to draw some attention and box office numbers (if they couldn’t, Disaster Movie would never have been made and Uwe Boll would be homeless), but mediocre movies simply fade into obscurity with no money or awards to show for it.

I would like to think that this movie can do something good for film. I would like to believe this will put an end to Efron’s bid for a serious movie career, but that’s wishful thinking. Hollywood has proven again and again that there’s nothing it loves more than a talentless actor with power eyebrows and perfect teeth.