Zac Efron Graduates From 'High School Musical' to 'Me and Orson Welles'

Dec. 5, 2009— -- Tween heartthrob Zac Efron can take on any man -- just ask People Magazine who dubbed him one of the 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007.

As "High School Musical's" Troy Bolton and captain of the basketball team, he left his competitors in the dust. As Hairspray's Link Larkin, girls sang odes to him and "heard bells" when he kissed them. But he may have met his match in Christian McKay who portrays Orson Welles in Richard Linklater's "Me and Orson Welles." Efron and Linklater sat down together with ABC News Now's "Popcorn with Peter Travers" to promote their new film.

"I play Richard. It is a coming of age story about this guy who talks his way into an adaptation of Orson Welles' 'Julius Caesar' at New York's Mercury Theater. It's a look in the life of Orson Welles at that moment," said Efron. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name and set in 1937, the movie focuses on 22 year old Orson Welles, who by then had already reinvented theater and radio. Welles' radio broadcast of H.G. Well's "The War of the Worlds" was only a year away and then he was off to Hollywood to ultimately make "Citizen Kane."

"Welles was the full on showman creating vehicles for himself. He was aware of his performance at all times. He was a chaotic person. He was there to wow us. The week of his 23rd birthday, he was on the cover of Time Magazine looking like he was 73," added Linklater.

Period pieces, with the exception of "The Newton Boys," are not Linklater's forte, who is known more for more contemporary fare such as "Slacker," "Dazed and Confused," "Before Sunrise" and "School of Rock." But this was a labor of love.

Making the movie was not easy recalled the director: "The industry said who cares? Who's going to see this?"

However, he persevered and obtained financing from Europe. "That's all Hollywood does now – remakes and tent poles. Our movie is an endangered species!" he exclaimed.

The book and the movie blend fact with fiction. Efron's character, 17-year-old Richard Samuels, is mostly fiction although according to Linklater there was a similar teenager in Welles' life at the time. "I talked to him on the phone," affirmed the director, "So much of this did happen. It's based in history but technically fiction." Welles meets Samuels and offers him a small part in his adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which the real Welles actually produced. His play, subtitled Death of Dictator, was turned into an allegory of Mussolini and fascism. While in Welles' orbit, Samuels is introduced to Sonja (the fictional production assistant), portrayed by Claire Danes, and a love triangle ensues. Danes is no stranger to Shakespeare as she starred in Baz Luhrmann's 1996's "Romeo + Juliet" with Leonardo DiCaprio.