So, on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, I met the author of Me and Orson Welles, Robert Kaplow. It was in my Creative Writing class at the Arts High in Middlesex County. Anyways, we were able to ask him questions, and even though I am not able to remember all the questions, here were the few that He did answer (I don't remember the whole response)
http://robertkaplow.com/
S=Student
R=Robert Kaplow
S: How involved were you in the making of the film?
R: I was pretty involved, to be honest. I was able to meet the people who were in the film, and without my book, no one would be in the studio (shot in England and Ireland, by the way). I told my girlfriend, in fact, that without my book, none of these people would have these jobs, which are high paying jobs too. Technicians and engineers were working everywhere, every small detail.
S: Did you play a big role in casting? Did you imagine Zac Efron playing the main character?
R: I didn't play a huge role in casting, it was mostly Linklater (Richard Linklater, Director of Boyhood and At Sunset) In fact, one day, Richard calls me up and asks me "Guess who I just had lunch with?" and I ask "Who?" He tells me "Zac Efron" and then there is a moment of silence, about like 5 minutes and the Richard asks "You don't know who he is do you? and I said I didn't and he tells me that he is like this hot actor from L.A. Working with Zac was pretty cool. He is humble guy, and even while shooting the film, he came up to me and said "You know, I can't believe I'm doing this." When we went to the Toronto Film Festival, we didn't see the movie and so we were finally able to see a special screening of it. After that, since Zac was the star he had to go from the elevator...anyways, I was also back by the elevator and I am slowly walking up to Zac. He has his eyes down, probably thinking that "Oh no, this guy is going to bash my performance, holy cow" and I just tell him "You were effin' spectacular!' and he gives me a hug. Claire Danes also just kind of wanted to do the role.
S: Do like the life you are living right now, or the life before as a starving writer?
R: I wouldn't say I was a starving writer, nothing much has really changed. I was a teacher, so I did have a lot of connections, but life has gotten a bit easier. It took me nine years to actual get the book published...I finished writing it in 1994, but I was finally able to find the publisher in 2003.
S: Did you expect the book to become a movie?
R: Uh, as I was writing it, I did imagine it as a play, like the connection between backstage and onstage, but I did not really see it coming out as a film. I was just lucky to have the right person see my book on the bookshelf at the right time.
S: Why did you choose to write a book on Orson Welles?
R: I was huge fan of him for a very long time. He changed a lot of the media, the radio; back then the entertainment form was the radio; and I heard a lot about him from my dad. In fact, I feel like I made my main character a lot like my dad. The sense of humor, the age. But at the same time, I put a lot of myself in there too. But, yeah I was a huge fan of Orson ,and so i just decided to write a book on it. It was based on a true story.
S: Was it hard to find the right person to play Orson? How did you settle on Christian McKay?
R: Yes, it was really tough to find Orson. Um, but down in New Brunswick (New Jersey) there was a bouncer on Rutgers campus. Mean old grouch who actually into theater. He called me up, I still kept in touch with him, and he tells me "You should see this guy" and he tells me a Broadway show starring Christian McKay and here I am at the show and I think to myself, this is my guy. So I call over Richard Linklater and make him see this show, and he takes Christian McKay in. Now Christian was this chap from London just trying to lead a new life in New York, and now he is this famous star.
I don't remember all of the questions and answers, but yeah, here was just a part of the interview our class had with Robert Kaplow, and it was really cool.
http://robertkaplow.com/
S=Student
R=Robert Kaplow
S: How involved were you in the making of the film?
R: I was pretty involved, to be honest. I was able to meet the people who were in the film, and without my book, no one would be in the studio (shot in England and Ireland, by the way). I told my girlfriend, in fact, that without my book, none of these people would have these jobs, which are high paying jobs too. Technicians and engineers were working everywhere, every small detail.
S: Did you play a big role in casting? Did you imagine Zac Efron playing the main character?
R: I didn't play a huge role in casting, it was mostly Linklater (Richard Linklater, Director of Boyhood and At Sunset) In fact, one day, Richard calls me up and asks me "Guess who I just had lunch with?" and I ask "Who?" He tells me "Zac Efron" and then there is a moment of silence, about like 5 minutes and the Richard asks "You don't know who he is do you? and I said I didn't and he tells me that he is like this hot actor from L.A. Working with Zac was pretty cool. He is humble guy, and even while shooting the film, he came up to me and said "You know, I can't believe I'm doing this." When we went to the Toronto Film Festival, we didn't see the movie and so we were finally able to see a special screening of it. After that, since Zac was the star he had to go from the elevator...anyways, I was also back by the elevator and I am slowly walking up to Zac. He has his eyes down, probably thinking that "Oh no, this guy is going to bash my performance, holy cow" and I just tell him "You were effin' spectacular!' and he gives me a hug. Claire Danes also just kind of wanted to do the role.
S: Do like the life you are living right now, or the life before as a starving writer?
R: I wouldn't say I was a starving writer, nothing much has really changed. I was a teacher, so I did have a lot of connections, but life has gotten a bit easier. It took me nine years to actual get the book published...I finished writing it in 1994, but I was finally able to find the publisher in 2003.
S: Did you expect the book to become a movie?
R: Uh, as I was writing it, I did imagine it as a play, like the connection between backstage and onstage, but I did not really see it coming out as a film. I was just lucky to have the right person see my book on the bookshelf at the right time.
S: Why did you choose to write a book on Orson Welles?
R: I was huge fan of him for a very long time. He changed a lot of the media, the radio; back then the entertainment form was the radio; and I heard a lot about him from my dad. In fact, I feel like I made my main character a lot like my dad. The sense of humor, the age. But at the same time, I put a lot of myself in there too. But, yeah I was a huge fan of Orson ,and so i just decided to write a book on it. It was based on a true story.
S: Was it hard to find the right person to play Orson? How did you settle on Christian McKay?
R: Yes, it was really tough to find Orson. Um, but down in New Brunswick (New Jersey) there was a bouncer on Rutgers campus. Mean old grouch who actually into theater. He called me up, I still kept in touch with him, and he tells me "You should see this guy" and he tells me a Broadway show starring Christian McKay and here I am at the show and I think to myself, this is my guy. So I call over Richard Linklater and make him see this show, and he takes Christian McKay in. Now Christian was this chap from London just trying to lead a new life in New York, and now he is this famous star.
I don't remember all of the questions and answers, but yeah, here was just a part of the interview our class had with Robert Kaplow, and it was really cool.