Zac Efron, Claire Danes Star In "Me and Orson Welles"

Me and Orson Welles, a novel written by Robert Kaplow, has been turned into a feature film starring Zac Efron and 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, a Rutgers newspaper.