THE “Me” of the title is teenage chancer Richard Samuels, the first role for cute heartthrob Zac Efron after his High School Musical rise to the pin-up top spot.

He is still playing a student, but this time not leading a teen movie but finding his feet (just as Samuels is) in an ensemble period piece directed with élan by Richard Linklater.

If Efron is the initial eye-candy lure, even singing airily as he plucks his ukelele most sweetly, nevertheless word of mouth will soon dictate wider appeal in the remarkable performance of unknown Brit Christian McKay in the other title role, the giant figure of Orson Welles. The award season surely beckons this Lancastrian thespian.

Adapted from Robert Kaplow’s novel, Linklater’s behind-the-scenes film is built around Welles’s infamous, radical, fraught 1937 Broadway production of Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre, arguably the most influential Shakespeare show… ever.

The wide-eyed Samuels bunks off high school to blag his way into the minor role of Lucius, effectively enabling him to be the audience’s eye on the creative whirlwind otherwise known Orson Welles in his womanising, cigar-chomping, inexhaustible New York pomp.

McKay’s Welles is an egocentric law unto himself, commandeering ambulances to sneak him through jammed streets, turning up to rehearse his role as Brutus on a whim, always inventive in his direction, but dictatorial, manipulative and cruelly blunt. He shoots down anyone who challenges his authority, yet is inspirational when mutiny hovers.

The conceited star is damnably irresistible too, as the conquests build up behind the back of his pregnant wife.

No sooner has young Richard been shown the ropes and a good time by ambitious production assistant Sonja (Claire Danes, looking a period picture of loveliness) than she fries a much bigger fish called Orson, but this is as hard and flinty as Linklater’s essentially small, strolling drama ever turns.

A twinkle rarely leaves the director’s eye; Jools Holland and Eddi Reader’s nostalgic score is a delight; and McKay’s Welles is a rumbustious bully, artistic free spirit and shooting star rolled into one big overcoat.

Efron’s fluttering fans, meanwhile, will enjoy his chutzpah and charm in a delightful comedy-drama with pleasing echoes of Shakespeare In Love and Mrs Henderson Presents.

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