CHRISTIAN McKAY

Richard Linklater spent the best part of a decade looking for an actor to play the eponymous actor and director in Me And Orson Welles. When he saw Christian McKay in his one-man show Rosebud: The Lives Of Orson Welles last year, his search was over. Starring opposite Zac Efron and Claire Danes in the film about the stage production that made Welles a star, this RADA-trained actor is being tipped as a future award-winner. 'This is not just an impersonation of Welles,' says Marc Samuelson, who is producing the film with Linklater and Anne Carli. 'Christian gives a modulated, carefully thought-out performance. This will be the breakthrough for this hugely accomplished actor.' But McKay - who is also a concert- level classical pianist - is not just about Welles. 'At drama school, my peers said they'd never want to be a character actor,' he says. 'But I can't think of anything better because of the range and possibility it affords.'