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PopSugarUK Meets the Me & Orson Welles Cast Part Two: Christian Becomes Orson, Zac Talks Bad Auditions!

PopSugarUK — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:43:58 -0800

Following on from last week's part one of my interview with the Me and Orson Welles cast - Zac Efron, Claire Danes and Christian McKay - and director Richard Linklater, here's part two! Last night the cast attended a screening of the film in NYC alongside Claire's husband Hugh Dancy, Precious actress Gabby Sidibe and Stephen Dorff. In London last week, they discussed finding Orson Welles, knowing who he actually was (!) and Zac told us about his worst audition. Look out for part three later this week, but here's some more from Zac, Claire, Christian and Richard:

Christian, as a film newcomer were you nervous about playing such a strong character as Orson against old hands like Zac and Claire?

Zac, were you concerned that your largely teen fanbase wouldn’t have heard of Orson Welles?
Z - "Not concerned, I thought this was a good opportunity to reveal to them the genius that is Orson Welles. Perhaps the kids that don’t know about Orson will maybe have more of an opinion on him when they start to study him in school, have some more perspective, some insight into the life of this American icon."

To read about Zac's worst audition, just read more.

What was your worst audition?

Peter Pan

But it didn't put you off, you knew you wanted to do this?
Z - "Not at all, are you kidding?"
R - "A real actor... you can't ever... if a little rejection puts you off? Then you're not a real actor. That's so much a part of it, you know? It's got to be so much in your blood.
Z (deadpans) - "Because I was really acting at that point."

For more from the interview keep an eye on PopSugarUK later this week, where you'll hear more from director and stars!

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Claire and Zac Share Mutual Admiration

PopSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

Zac Efron and Claire Danes were out and about in NYC yesterday to continue promoting their new movie Me and Orson Welles. The duo stopped by The Early Show for an interview and later met up again for a screening at night. Zac and Claire were full of compliments for each other as they make the rounds and have some cute back and forth banter during their morning appearance - watch it after the jump. This time Claire avoided any wardrobe malfunctions in her cute silver dress. Zac and Claire have been doing their promotional work - including chatting with PopSugar UK while in London - before the movie's release on Wednesday.

More photos of Claire and Zac at the premiere and video of their interview just read more.

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Zac and Claire Are UK Red Carpet Ready for Orson Welles

PopSugarUK — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0800

British fans have certainly had their screaming capabilities tested lately, as we got a visit from Robert Pattinson last week, and last night Zac Efron walked the red carpet in London! We caught him arriving at Heathrow yesterday, but last night was the big UK premiere of his new movie Me and Orson Welles, which is based on a fantastic book. Director Richard Linklater looked pretty casual at the premiere, while Zac was smart in his suit and costar Claire Danes looked stunning in her black dress. Claire's husband Hugh Dancy was also on hand looking handsome at the event, and other guests included Ali Bastian and Ben Chaplin.

I'm heading to a press conference with Zac, Claire and Richard today to find out all about the making of the movie. Stay tuned to PopSugarUK here and on twitter to find out how it goes!

To see more photos from the red carpet, just read more

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Zac Efron Takes Orson Welles to the UK

PopSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:30:15 -0800

Zac Efron was on the go this morning as he made his way out of London's Heathrow Airport. He was in his signature shades on his way to a waiting car, before getting red carpet ready for the London premiere of Me and Orson Welles with costar Claire Danes. Zac was able to enjoy a little downtime in LA after recently wrapping up The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, but now it's time for him to get right back to work with a press conference tomorrow - PopSugar UK will be Twittering the whole thing, so make sure to check them out!

There's lots more Zac when you read more.

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Sienna Has Plenty of Company After the Show and Miss Julie

PopSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:46 -0700

Sienna Miller joined her After Miss Julie costars Jonny Lee Miller and Marin Ireland onstage in NYC last night as they officially opened their Broadway show. The trio had a great deal of support for their big evening, with Anna Wintour, Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes and her new husband Hugh Dancy turning out to attend both the premiere and afterparty. True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard also made an appearance, though his rumored lady friend Kate Bosworth wasn't by his side. Sienna beamed in her shimmery short dress at the bash, but she might not be so smiley if she braves reading her reviews.

Fans of Alexander Skarsgard, check out our Community group! And to see more from Sienna's big night, just read more.

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Images include: Sienna Miller, Marin Ireland, Jonny Lee Miller, Michelle Hicks, Anna Wintour, Rachel McAdams, Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, Alexander Skarsgard, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Justin Kirk

Sienna Sparkles at After Miss Julie Opening Night

PopSugarUK — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:09:00 -0700

Sienna Miller looked stunning last night at the afterparty following the opening night of After Miss Julie on Broadway, in which she stars alongside Jonny Lee Miller. Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams and Anna Wintour were among those in the audience, and Sienna beamed during the curtain call. Reviews have been mixed so far for her Broadway debut, but Sienna looked relaxed and happy at the afterparty in a gorgeous Balmain dress. Stunning!

To see photos of Sienna on stage during After Miss Julie's opening night and more from the after party, just read more.

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Sugar Bits - Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy Married?

PopSugarUK — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:00:00 -0700

Adam: An Unusual, Careful Romance

BuzzSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:30:36 -0700

There's a sense throughout Adam that writer/director Max Mayer has crafted his film very carefully. There are few, if any, moments that seem like they could offend or turn heads or overstep bounds. And that's probably not surprising, considering that it's not every day a film features a character with Asperger's syndrome as a romantic lead. The downside of Mayer's restrained approach is that Adam doesn't build a ton of momentum. The upside is that the central romance is so well-written and well-performed that it's worth seeing through to the end.

The lead character, of course, is Adam (Hugh Dancy), an engineer with a love for outer space. He also has Aspberger's, a kind of high-functioning autism that causes him to have trouble navigating social situations. That's especially problematic when he meets Beth (Rose Byrne), who's new to his apartment building and attempts to befriend him. Beth isn't the most social of creatures herself - in one early scene, she laments to her father that being an only child has made her permanently socially inept - and she seems to understand Adam even before he tells her about his Aspberger's. The two of them become friends, and then more, leading to a fairly unusual big-screen romance. Want to know what makes this film work? Just read more.

By far, the performances by Byrne and Dancy are the best part of Adam. Dancy, in particular, completely owns the movie with his performance, which is evocative, sensitive, and occasionally surprising. At times, he and Mayer's script play Adam's misreading of social situations for laughs (or, at least, chuckles), including the moment when Adam attempts to clean Beth's windows while dangling outside the building wearing a space suit. Other times, it's hard to tell what Adam is going to do: when Adam becomes angry with Beth at one point, it feels like we're seeing a side of him that he tries hard to keep hidden. Byrne, meanwhile, effectively shows both the love Beth feels for Adam and her confusion about feeling it. Beth knows that a relationship with Adam will never be easy, but Byrne manages to make us understand why Beth wants it anyway.

But Adam isn't just about Adam and Beth's relationship. There's another theme at work, one about truth and honesty, which we see mostly through a side story about Beth's family. Beth essentially has two men in her life: Adam, who for better or worse says exactly what she's thinking, and her father, who's slowly revealed to be less virtuous than Beth might have thought. (A third man - an ex-boyfriend who cheated on Beth - lurks in the background, unseen but clearly influencing some of Beth's actions.) When Mayer's script ties the two stories together, it's almost too neatly done; there's nothing unexpected about that resolution.

What did surprise me, though, was the ending - which, without saying too much, is where I hoped Mayer would take these characters without ever believing until the movie's final moments that he actually would. It's not necessarily new, or different, or shocking, but it is sweet and satisfying. And overall, that's the story of Adam itself.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Hugh Dancy on Being an Unconventional Leading Man in Adam

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:30:31 -0700

The movie Adam is a sweetly unconventional romance, and a huge part of what makes it work is Hugh Dancy in the leading role. Playing a character with Asperger's syndrome who embarks on a relationship with a "neurotypical" woman named Beth (Rose Byrne), Dancy gives his character a memorable physical presence and a personality that can't be defined by his condition. During press interviews in San Francisco, director Max Mayer told me he once worried Dancy could be too "personable and social and self-confident and . . . charming" to take the role, but in the end, his intelligence and "active listening" won Mayer over. Here's how Dancy talked about the film:

What kind of research did you do to figure out how to play Adam?
The bare bones of what you do are the same as what anybody would do. I go on the Internet a lot, trying to follow the right leads, work out what isn't going to be useful and what is going to be useful, reading books and trying to find people's first-hand accounts of having Asperger's, and then talking to people that really knew a lot about it and ultimately meeting people with Asperger's. Then there's the other part of what you're doing, which is trying to process that and bring it back to the script and work towards whatever you're going to do on day one of the shoot. How that works, I almost don't care to examine.

How did you create Adam's physical presence? Even when he's not doing anything in particular, he's always so engaged in the scenes around him.
Although on the surface he can appear almost disengaged or detached, Adam is always present, and he's listening very hard because everything depends on it. Although he's clearly very honest and straightforward and literal, there's another part of him that's engaged in a constant act of translation and even acting. Because he's having to make that adjustment and almost try and pass for a neurotypical. That's the deal. He's got to try to work on the terms that have been set by the rest of us. So there's this ongoing and constant flicker of "What the hell is going on here, and what do they mean, and what do they want from me?" To amplify that too much would be ridiculous, but to miss it would have missed that part of who he is.

To hear what it was like to work with Rose Byrne and whether Dancy thought this movie would succeed, just read more.

Since Rose Byrne couldn't come to San Francisco, I have to ask - what was it like working with her?
It was great. Obviously, we've been together for a while talking about the film, and for both of us it was true that we didn't really get a strong sense of each other during the movie - I felt like I got to know Rose subsequent to making the film. And part of that was reflecting the fact that we only had 25 days to do it, and so it was just a pure terrible rush and you're having to stay very focused, but also obviously it's a lot to do with the character. I was more withdrawn than I would normally be. . . . Even in the work of it before the scenes, we weren't having the same sorts of conversations that you would normally have with a "scene partner." We weren't huddling together and figuring out what the subtext was and how we could all get on the same page and explore the underlying emotions because that's precisely what Adam, anyway, couldn't deal with. . . . That's important, and that served the back-and-forth and miscommunications of the scenes, but it was strange. It was an unusual working experience but a very good one, I think.

We've been following the movie since Sundance, and it's clear it's gotten a lot of buzz. Did you expect it would be a movie that could break out?
No, no - God, I didn't expect anybody would ever see the movie. That's the truth, and that's the fact of making a movie with a budget this small, because the odds are stacked against you. So getting into Sundance was incredible - it didn't surprise me because by that point I'd seen a bit of the film and it seemed like we were a strong candidate, but you also have to be realistic about the competition. Every step beyond that has felt just like an additional gift.

We've seen you in several different kinds of roles recently, from this to Shopaholic. Are there particular sorts of things you look for in a job?
Primarily what I'm looking for, if I have any general criteria, is something different. And that would be true of the scale of the movie - it's always good to remind people you exist just by doing a film that's going to have a large audience, like Shopaholic, but I wouldn't do it just for that reason - the character and the tone . . . but at the same time you just have to be open to good material. And I think I have quite a broad sense of what that is - I just have quite broad tastes.

I saw somewhere that you'd said you took the Adam job because it scared you.
There's nothing wrong with feeling comfortable with what you're doing, but you want to be learning something. If something's going to work, there's got to be a risk of failure. There's nothing interesting about watching somebody coast through - well, maybe there is, but it's not exciting for me, anyway. You wouldn't want necessarily every work experience to be at the same level, or at least I don't think so, because if that became your absolute defining criteria you would probably start making bad decisions. But I think it's good, regularly at least, to push yourself to a point that you're not comfortable.

Photos courtesy of Getty and Fox Searchlight

Justin and Chace Go Black Tie For Elton John's White Ball

PopSugar — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:00:46 -0700

British and American stars headed to Elton John's home in the English countryside last night for his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball. Kate Beckinsale posed for photos with a very tan and blond Lily Allen, while their fellow Brit Hugh Dancy brought along his fiance Claire Danes. Chace Crawford took a break from exploring London to attend the bash, mingling with Elton and David Furnish. Justin Timberlake serenaded the crowd, though the fun times quickly turned somber when the guests received news of Michael Jackson's death. JT was one of the many stars to express his condolences over Michael's passing as everyone tries to absorb the loss of the extraordinary entertainer.

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