Zac Efron
Spotlight by: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com
Zac Efron is used to singing and dancing on-screen. As the star of Disney’s smash-hit High School Musical and a co-star in the new Hairspray film, Efron is doing his part to bring the musical genre back into the mainstream. In Hairspray, he plays teen heartthrob Link Larkin, a role he reveled in playing.
“I liked playing the character that kind of brings this 60’s cool vibe,” he says. “Much like John [Travolta] did in Grease or Saturday Night Fever. Those were always my favorite characters; those characters always stole the show for me. So it was great to do that for those 10 to 15 year-old guys out there that might like Link. It’s a pleasure.”
Perhaps best known to fans as the shaggy haired crooner in High School Musical, his appearance as Link may seem like a departure. For starters, his haircut in the film actually shows off his forehead! “I love changing for a character,” he says. “I loved taking on a completely different look for Link. Somehow the hair and these clothes just justified these goofy dance moves. It makes it all kind of cool.”
Hairspray may be the title of the film, but the hair product itself also proved to be the movie’s biggest challenge according to Efron. “Hairspray doesn’t read on camera at all, so someone got the idea that we should use Arrid Extra Dry deodorant,” Efron says. “So literally we had take after take of just spraying deodorant—like clouds of it in the studio. And the dancers would be completely smiling but as soon as ‘cut’ happened they would sprint out the front doors coughing and hacking because so much deodorant was getting in our lungs. It was crazy.”
If that was an unusual moment on set, working with a hugely famous cast including John Travolta, Christopher Walken, and Michelle Pfeiffer was just as extraordinary for Efron. “It was very surreal to meet and get to work with people who have been a part of our lives on film since I can remember,” he says. “Meeting John—he’s one of my heroes. And just having the opportunity to shake his hand was more than I can
Efron bonded with his younger co-stars as well and says they all banded together to give it their all. He also found ways to personalize his own character. “One of the things that I sort of stumbled on by accident—because I’m sort of in scenes but I’m not featured in scenes, I have a lot of background work in this movie, I winked once by accident in a scene and after that they wanted to see more of it,” he says. “As the movie went on, when I didn’t have a line I would just throw in a wink.”
With two hugely popular musicals under his belt (and a second installment of High School Musical on the way), Efron is always open to doing more. “Musicals are so fun to make because as actors there’s never a dull moment,” he says. “You’re always singing and dancing and every time something can start to get boring or tedious you can just break out into song. I love that they’re coming back. I love that High School Musical and Hairspray are helping to make them become mainstream again.”
Since High School Musical turned Efron into a bona-fide star with the young teen set, his career has taken off in many ways—a fact he’s grateful for. He’s even in talks to star in a revised version of the film Footloose. “There’s a lot more doors open,” he says. “We’re a bit busier, we get to travel a lot. That’s one of the main bonuses for me. One of the biggest ways my life has changed is I get to go see the world now.”
And the world seems ready for him.
