As we previously reported,
High School Musical 2: Sing It All Or Nothing is just around the corner. In fact, the highly anticipated movie has just recently finished filming in Utah. But while waiting for its release on August 17 on the Disney Channel,
Zac Efron fans can catch the heartthrob in his upcoming movie entitled
Hairspray.
According to Hairspray director Adam Shankman, he has been initially worried in casting Efron since his image has been "very Disney, very Mouseketeery." However, the 19-year old actor has proven his worth as a performer highly capable of depicting more edgy roles. "He's a really special kid and is arguably the biggest teen star in America right now," says Shankman.
In
High School Musical, Efron has admitted that he didn’t do all the singing since his baritone was fused with a 24-year old tenor. In Hairspray, however, Efron will be singing on his own in all of his performances. Shankman has revealed that this movie will give Efron the opportunity to “regain some vocal dignity.”
Efron, who plays the basketball star Troy Bolton in Disney’s
High School Musical, has landed the role of Link Larkin, the lead character in the new version of the Broadway musical Hairspray. The cast also includes John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton and Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle, James Marsden as Corny Collins and Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad among others.
Distributed by New Line Cinema,
Hairspray is scheduled for release on July 20, 2007.
Efron, a native of California, has appeared on television shows such as
ER,
The Guardian, Summerland, and
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. For his work on
High School Musical, he has won two Teens Choice Awards, one for TV - Choice Breakout Star and another for TV - Choice Chemistry, which he shared with costar
Vanessa Anne Hudgens.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: IMDB
(Photo Courtesy of New Line Cinema)