12/11/2009

in

Robert Kaplow's novel "Me and Orson Welles" inspires a film

Allison Manchel

Me and Orson Welles, a novel written by Robert Kaplow, has been turned into a feature film starring [Zac Efron](http://www.people.com/people/zac_efron) and [Claire Danes](http://www.people.com/people/claire_danes). Kaplow attended Rutgers from 1972 to 1976 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.  
  
"Me and Orson Welles" was published in 2003 and caught the attention of director Richard Linklater. The film adaptation of the novel was released in a few U.S. theaters last month, receiving many great comments from film critics.  
  
The film tells the story of a teenager in New Jersey in the 1930s that meets Welles and puts on a production of the play "Julius Caesar."  
  
Kaplow says his idea for the novel came from his desire to write a book about people putting on a play, as well as having a lifelong fascination with Welles. His inspiration for the book came from a picture he saw in 1993. The photo was one of Orson Welles in the production of "Julius Caesar" sitting onstage next to a young boy. "I remember staring in disbelief at that photo thinking: 'this is what I've been looking for,'" Kaplow says in an interview with [Focus](http://news.rutgers.edu/focus/issue.2009-11-30.2679602756/article.2009-12-07.3589372859), a Rutgers newspaper.