News > Tupper to Play Joseph Cotten in Welles

Written by David Morgan

James Tupper of ABC's Men in Trees has been cast as actor Joseph Cotten in Me and Orson Welles, an indie period piece directed by Richard Linklater. Zac Efron will play the lead, Christian McKay will play the young Welles, Ben Chaplin will play actor George Coulouris, and Claire Danes will co-star as well.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. adapted the screenplay from Robert Kaplow's 2003 novel, which follows a teen (Efron) who is cast in Welles' 1937 Broadway staging of "Julius Caesar" opposite Cotten."

For those not acquainted with the talented character actor of yesteryear, Joseph Cotten was a member of Orson Welles' famous Mercury Theater Company who made the transition to film, along with the young director, in 1941's Citizen Kane. Aside from Kane, Cotten starred in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, Carol Reed's The Third Man, and dozens of other films, though his heyday was clearly in the 1940s. Incidentally, Tupper really bears a striking resemblance to Cotten, so hats off to whatever casting director noticed that.