Report by Liz Corlett
Better known for his passion for horror and industrial-strength pomade, film critic Dr Mark Kermode (pictured) has given his blessing to 'Me and Orson Welles', the Manx-made film by Richard Linklater which previewed at the Gaiety Theatre on Saturday 21st November.
The fearsome critic and broadcaster was in attendance at the premiere but went largely unnoticed, not least because all eyes that night were trained on Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron.
By contrast, Kermode will be turning the spotlight on the Isle of Man in the near future: one reason behind his visit was to make a feature on the Island's film industry for a forthcoming edition (3rd December 2009) of BBC2's The Culture Show.
After the screening, Kermode spoke to isleofman.com and gave his verdict on Me and Orson Welles (while also stemming further conjecture about his surname - yes, his mother is Manx).
He had already seen the film at its London premiere several nights previously but, he explained, "second time around, it's a different film; you see different things in it.
"And the interesting thing, too, about seeing it in the Gaiety, was sitting in the actual seat that's being shown on screen; that was lovely.
"Out of all the films that have been made here so far, to have a preview right here in the theatre was great, so I enjoyed it just as much the second time".
Texan Linklater made his name in the early 1990s with Slacker and Dazed and Confused, slices of sharp-eared but affectionate eavesdropping on his own generation.
"Welles was the first independent filmmaker...he was an outsider"
Was Me and Orson Welles a film that Kermode would have expected Linklater to make, or to have given the treatment he did?
"I didn't expect him to make this at all. I was talking to him today - we did our interview amidst these big wooden implements under the (Gaiety) stage - and I knew he was an admirer of Welles, but he was saying that Welles was, in many ways, the first independent filmmaker.
"He never toed the Hollywood line, he was never an insider as far as the studio was concerned; he was always an outsider. That all makes sense when he explains it.
"I remember seeing it the first time and thinking that you wouldn't immediately identify this as a Linklater film but then again, he's worked in so many different genres: edgy indie pics, Hollywood blockbusters, animation...in fact he won a Kermode Award for a rotoscoped animated feature (A Scanner Darkly), and he's someone who's very interested in doing whatever he wants to do.
"Once I talked to him about treating Welles as the first independent filmmaker, then it all fell into place".
Despite the headline-grabbing presence of Zac Efron, it's the central performance by Christian McKay as Welles which has subsequently proved the real scene-stealer for several critics.
That the "miraculous act of physical and vocal transformation" (Peter Travers for Rolling Stone) was also McKay's first film role has caused an especial stir, although, as McKay explained in interview, he was already well-acquainted with the "iconic American".
"I was, as everyone was, extraordinarily impressed by that portrayal of Orson Welles" said Kermode.
"There's a lot of 'Welleses' on screen but when you see Christian you think, 'wow, that really is Orson Welles'.
"So much of what is known about him is myths and lies, often put about by himself; he loved the idea of being larger than life. It's really hard to capture that on screen, and I thought that was done really, really well.
"Christian himself said that it's not an impression, it's a forgery, which of course is an homage to Welles.
"He also doesn't try to make Welles out to be someone he wasn't. It was a warts and all portrayal. Some of the accounts of what Welles' personal life was like at that point were fairly nice to him. He did definitely walk on people if he felt it was necessary, which apparently he did."
A Star is Born: Christian McKay on playing Orson Welles
Prior to the Gaiety screening, actor Christian McKay told isleofman.com what it was like to make such an auspicious debut.
"Well, it's my first film role so it's just magical. When I first met Richard Linklater in New York, I was doing theatre. I stood there like a complete idiot, giving him the names of Hollywood actors who could play my role, thinking, 'he's never going to cast an unknown, rather pompous English stage actor from Bury in Lancashire to play this great American icon.
"But he thought he'd found his Orson Welles. It would've been much easier for him to make the film in America and they kept saying to him, 'get rid of the Limey!'"
"Playing this part, I thought, 'I'm with some of the biggest stars in the world, actors that I revere, and I'm playing one of the world's greatest stars, and I'm working with one of the world's greatest directors.
"The Isle of Man is a lucky place"
"The Isle of Man is very lucky for me: not only did I get to make this wonderful film here - and it could have been made nowhere else - but my mother, when she came over to see some of the filming, well, she gave me more information than I needed. She told me that she came here on honeymoon with my father, so I was conceived here!
"So, when I'm down on my luck in the future, I'm just going to get on that boat and come to the Isle of Man because it's a lucky place - and I'll be thanking those fairies every time I go over the bridge.
"Tonight is the pay-off: to come back to the Isle of Man and thank everybody who opened their arms. They made me - rather nervous, playing such a huge role in my first film - so welcome, it was like coming home.
"If you impersonate, you're dead"
Describing how he prepared for his tour de force as Welles, McKay, 36, said, "If you impersonate or imitate, you're dead. I could only reference myself at Orson's age, at 22, and I'm afraid I was as lost and arrogant as he was at that age.
"And I did so much research - I think I have about 96 books, well-thumbed. Conan Doyle said the best way to act a part is to be it, so whenever Richard said 'action', I wanted to totally become Orson."
