But the true star of Me and Orson Welles and it's Manx premiere had to be Lancashire-born (but Manx-conceived) newcomer Christian McKay who, with his charm, wit and humour, certainly won me over.

In the film, McKay, who has been nominated for the BIFA Best Newcomer award, plays a 22-year-old Orson Welles - pre-War of the Worlds and Citizen Kane - working on his production of Julius Caesar in the Mercury Theatre, New York in 1937.

>> Zac Efron speaks to iomtoday
23 November 2009

The previously unknown actor was discovered staging a one-man Orson Welles production in Broadway, New York by the film's director Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed and Confused).

'I'd read about actors being in the right place at the right time and having their Cinderella moment of being discovered and I'd never honestly thought it would happen to me,' he said.

'I was quite enjoying, in a masochistic sense, the school of hard knocks and learning my trade as an apprentice as you would in any trade. And I was in a little tiny theatre off Broadway - so far off Broadway it was vitually in Canada, you know.'

He explained: 'I met the novelist Robert Kaplow, who wrote Me and Orson Welles, and he said they might be making a movie of it and Richard Linklater wants to direct it.

'And suddenly Richard turned up and like a complete idiot I stood there giving him names of famous Hollywood actors that could play Orson Welles.

'I didn't imagine in my wildest dreams, and I have a pretty wild imagination, that he could possibly cast an unknown English, rather pompous, apprentice stage actor from Bury, Lancashire as this great American icon,' he said.

'But he stuck with me and you know it would have been so much easier for him to have cast that famous Hollywood star - they would have given him all the money and he would have been filming in Hollywood.

'But Richard always says it would have lacked the magic we had filming in the Isle of Man where your beautiful Gaiety Theatre became the Mercury. The Isle of Man became the Isle of Manhattan.'

McKay puts in an astounding performance as the temperamental, egotistical womaniser.

His American accent is faultless and his Lancastrian cheer is truly hidden beneath the overpowering and robust character of the infamous actor and director.

The stylish film tells the story of a 17-year-old wannabe actor Richard Samuels (Zac Efron) who bluffs his way into a short-lived bit part in the legendary production of Julius Caesar.

There he learns about the stage, falls for an older woman Sonja Jones (Claire Danes) who is willing to do anything to get to the top of the business, and experiences the dark side of genius.

The sweet coming-of-age story is rife with familiar faces including Ben Chaplin (Game On, The Truth About Cats and Dogs), James Tupper (Men in Trees) and Eddie Marsan (Vera Drake and Little Dorrit).

When the cast walked on stage to hysteric screams, McKay jeered: 'I must apologise Zac for all the Orson Welles fans.'

He then told the audience how the Isle of Man is especially lucky for him.

'My mum told me she was on her honeymoon here and I was conceived here,' he said, 'So when I'm down on my luck I'm going to get on the boat and consult with the fairies.'

Me and Orson Welles is currently screening at the Broadway Cinema in the Villa Marina. Call the ticket hotline on 600555.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE FILM?
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
Send your reviews to newsviews@newsiom.co.im