Me and Orson Welles Character Card: Sonja Jones (Claire Danes)

“Sonja is an equivocal character,” says Marc Samuelson. “There’s no question that you’re not just supposed to go along with Zac and fall madly in love with her. You should have a slight sense, and maybe not quite realise why, that you’re not quite sure about this woman, her ambition is so completely focused and so enormous and she’s tough as old boots, so you perhaps hold back a slight level of sympathy. Claire’s such a clever actress because she manages to get across all the charm and the fun, and yet there’s just something……”

Claire agrees: “Sonja’s very ambitious and capable and thinks that she’s savvier and more mature than she really is. So she’s very charming, but she’s very critical of others and she doesn’t see her own weaknesses, ever. I loved the script. It’s incredibly charming and witty and has a really surprising tone. It’s very light, but very intelligent.

Claire Danes has performed on stage, screen and television, making an impressive mark with her starring role in the acclaimed series "My So Called Life," which earned her a Golden Globe® Award and an Emmy® nomination. Her extensive list of films include "Shopgirl," "The Family Stone," "Evening," "Stardust," "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," "Igby Goes Down," "The Hours," Billie August's "Les Miserables," "Stage Beauty," "Brokedown Palace," "Polish Wedding," "The Rainmaker," "To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday," "Home For the Holidays," and "Little Women." She made her Broadway debut starring as Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" opposite Jefferson Mays. Her next film project will be the lead role in "Temple Grandin", HBO Films' biopic of an autistic woman who became a bestselling author and one of the top scientists in the field of humane livestock handling. She is also an accomplished dancer and has received critical acclaim for her performances in "Edith and Jenny" and "Christina Olson: American Model" both choreographed by Tamar Rogoff at P.S. 122. She is currently the face of Gucci's fine jewelry line.

Based in real theatrical history, Me and Orson Welles is a romantic coming-of-age story about a teenage actor who lucks into a role in Julius Caesar as it's being re-imagined by a brilliant, impetuous young director named Orson Welles at his newly-founded Mercury Theater in NYC, 1937. The rollercoaster week leading up to opening night has the charismatic-but-sometimes-cruel Welles (impressive newcomer ChristIan McKay) staking his career on this risky production while Richard (Zac Efron) mixes with everyone from starlets to stagehands in behind-the-scenes adventures bound to change him. Claire Danes co-stars as Sonja Jones, the unapologetically ambitious assistant to Welles whom Richard tries to woo. Ben Chaplin plays Mercury Theater regular George Coulouris. Zoe Kazan, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly and James Tupper are among the talented ensemble cast.

The fast-moving screenplay by Holly Gent Palmo and Vince Palmo is based on Robert Kaplow's meticulously researched novel of the same name. Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater is at the helm of the CinemaNX and Detour Film production, opening nationally in select cities November 25, 2009.