WITH Christian McKay’s big screen debut hitting screens tomorrow, whispers of an Oscar nomination are reaching fever pitch.

Christian plays Orson Welles in Richard Linklater’s latest movie, Me and Orson Welles, alongside teen heart-throb Zac Efron.

But it is the Bury actor, whose previous experience has mostly been in theatre, who has won over the critics.

Despite the plaudits, Christian remains modest and says that it isn’t winning awards that will make him happy.

“I’ve got a very happy life,” he says. “I have a beautiful wife, a lovely family — I’m really enjoying the process, as they say.”

Christian was discovered by Linklater, who has directed films including Dazed and Confused, School of Rock and Fast Food Nation, when he was appearing in a one-man show about Welles, which he had also written.

In last week’s Bury Times he revealed how he was so surprised by the Oscar nominated director approaching him that he actually suggested a list of Hollywood stars who would be suitable for the part before realising that it was him that Linklater wanted for the role.

The film, based on the book of the same name, tells the true story of student Richard Samuels who lucks his way into a production of Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre, directed by Welles himself.

Christian says people in Los Angeles keep warning him not to let the excitement go to his head.

“They tell me I mustn’t let it change me,” he says. “It’s the thing they say over and over again. I tell them not to worry — I’m from Bury. In Bury we keep our feet on the ground.”

* Me and Orson Welles goes on general release tomorrow.