Former high school basketball player Zac Efron is hoping to shed his image as a teenage hunkthrob and become a serious actor. If you were one of the dozens who saw him in Me and Orson Welles, then you already know this. If not, Efron hopes to show you his chops in two new movies he has just landed. Mike Fleming passes on word that Efron will play a college student turned CIA badass in Fire, a “Ludlum-esque spy thriller†adapted from a graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis. Awesome. There are fewer details about his other project, which is only described as a “Back To The Future-like film†that combines two already gestating projects. Both seem capable of helping him start to get rid of his teeny-bopper image. But if he really wants recognition, he should follow Kate Winslet’s lead.
EXCLUSIVE: Zac Efron Picks Pair Of Projects [Deadline]