A lot of people who are not pre-teen girls are not entirely sold on Zac Efron. Some would even call him a little creepy. Well, Richard Linklater thinks he's pretty good and has signed him up for his next movie Me and Orson Welles.
The film is based on a period novel by Robert Kaplow. Set in 1937, the plot follows a high school student (Efron) in New York who, by chance, strolls into the legendary Mercury Theatre founded by Orson Welles. He lands a part in Julius Caesar, the play that put Welles star into ascent, and spends a week learning life and love lessons.
Christian McKay has been cast as Welles, with Ben Chaplain as English actor George Coulouris.
This is surprising material for Linklater, even without Efron. We've only ever seen Efron in Hairspray and the first High School Musical (yes, we made it all the way through) and we'd say it's going to be an enormous test of his talent to carry a film like this. We wish him the best, because this is a bold step.