Zac Efron Was Never The Same After High School Musical
"High School Musical" taught kids that we're all in this together, and it taught Zac Efron that there's nothing better than a big ol' paycheck. Except maybe friendship. This is how a Disney Channel TV movie changed its star's life for better and worse — but mostly better.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 "High School Musical" taught kids that we're all in this together, and it taught Zac Efron
00:05 that there's nothing better than a big ol' paycheck, except maybe friendship.
00:09 This is how a Disney Channel TV movie changed its star's life for better and worse, but
00:14 mostly better.
00:15 If you were a kid in the mid-to-late 2000s, or a tired parent of one, there was no escaping
00:20 High School Musical.
00:21 The fantasy movie about a public school with a well-funded theater department became an
00:25 instant sensation after its release.
00:27 Move over, Michael Jordan, there's a new basketball star in town, and his name is Troy Bolton.
00:32 "Just call me Freaky Callback Boy."
00:36 On the evening of January 20, 2006, over 7 million televisions were tuned to the Disney
00:41 Channel for the premiere showing of High School Musical.
00:44 Before the movie, Zac Efron had only appeared on TV a few times, but after that night, he
00:48 was one of the most famous people worldwide, at least in the eyes of 9-year-olds.
00:53 This was the start of something new for Efron, and he started getting attention not just
00:57 from casting directors, but from random people on the street.
01:00 One particular moment really left an impression.
01:02 When Efron met members of a local tribe in Papua New Guinea, he was surprised to learn
01:07 that his movies had made it across the Pacific.
01:09 "These are the tribesmen, guys, came up with cell phones, and we FaceTimed their cousins
01:14 and their wives and people that were living in other places."
01:17 That was the event that made Efron truly reflect on the extent of his fame, fame that he wouldn't
01:22 have at all if it wasn't for High School Musical.
01:24 The guy from MTV's "Room Raiders" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
01:28 "My dream girl would look just like a younger Catherine Zeta-Jones.
01:31 I said that pretty much makes me a younger Michael Douglas."
01:35 Given that Troy Bolton was East High's star basketball player and arguably the most popular
01:39 kid in school, it's not surprising that Efron was seen by some as sort of a golden god.
01:44 Soon after the first film became successful, Efron appeared on multiple teen magazine covers,
01:49 and the shouts of his rabid fans grew painfully loud.
01:52 Even Efron himself found it a bit much, and he certainly didn't love being called a heartthrob
01:57 by the media.
01:58 In 2012, he told CBS Sunday Morning,
02:00 "I can't explain to you what it's like to be a heartthrob.
02:03 I don't think I'm a heartthrob.
02:04 I hate it.
02:05 It follows you around, but you don't deserve it."
02:08 Needless to say, Efron was a little afraid to deal with the reality of fame as a teenager.
02:12 "No, no, I'm not afraid.
02:14 I'm just… scared."
02:18 But nowadays, it looks like he's come to terms with being a bit of a hunk.
02:22 High School Musical wouldn't be nearly as watchable if it didn't have students dancing
02:26 on cafeteria tables or choreographed b-ball routines.
02:29 Zac Efron definitely shows off some solid moves throughout the original film, but there's
02:33 still room for improvement, and that's because he'd never really done it before.
02:38 Just like Troy, he was learning to express himself, but real life isn't a Disney movie.
02:42 "Here's the deal.
02:44 No one sings at college."
02:48 Efron had to get his head in the game and learn how to boogie if he wanted High School
02:51 Musical to be a success.
02:53 He reflected to BBC Radio 1,
02:55 "I didn't know how to dance during those High School Musical movies.
02:58 I was just a kid, like from the street, an actor scraping by."
03:02 By the end of the franchise, though, Efron's dancing skills evolved from "serviceable"
03:06 to "actually pretty damn good."
03:08 Outside of the surprisingly expansive High School Musical cinematic universe, he provided
03:13 his pops and locks and breaks and jams to the movie's hairspray and the greatest showman.
03:18 What can we say?
03:19 The man likes to move.
03:20 Zac Efron's dances in the first High School Musical are the real deal.
03:24 No CGI or doubles necessary.
03:26 The same can't be said about his voice, which was dubbed over by actor Drew Sealy for the
03:30 songs.
03:31 Efron wasn't very happy about this, so when negotiations between he and Disney began for
03:36 High School Musical 2, he wanted to be completely sure that he wouldn't be singing into the
03:40 void.
03:41 That's why he made sure that his contract had a clause stating that no one else would
03:44 be able to sing Troy's songs.
03:46 In 2007, he told the Orlando Sentinel,
03:48 "That was a very huge point for me.
03:50 I had to put my foot down and fight to get my voice on these tracks."
03:54 "Do I seem different to you this summer?"
03:56 "You dress a lot better, that's for sure."
03:58 The demand wasn't just a flex of Efron's vocal muscles, but a flex of his power in the franchise.
04:03 Could there really be a High School Musical without Troy Bolton?
04:06 Producers probably didn't think so at the time.
04:09 Despite their awkwardly worded attempt to spin off on Disney+ over a decade later with
04:13 High School Musical the Musical the Series, yes, that's really what it's called.
04:19 Some of your favorite actors might tell you they do it for the love of the craft, but
04:22 at the end of the day, they go to work for the same reason you and I do — to make that
04:26 sweet, sweet money.
04:28 In exchange for portraying Troy in the first High School Musical, Efron was given around
04:32 $100,000.
04:33 That's not a massive payday in the acting world, and the fact that he was a fresh face
04:37 in a movie that never actually made it to cinemas probably has something to do with
04:41 it.
04:42 In his final three, Senior Year, which was given a theatrical release, Efron got a massive
04:47 raise, taking home somewhere between $3 and $5 million for his efforts.
04:51 Cha-ching!
04:52 Efron's paycheck for High School Musical was only a stepping stone for where his career
04:56 earnings would go.
04:57 Now he has a net worth of roughly $25 million, 250 times more than his original paycheck.
05:03 Don't compare it to yours, or you might start crying.
05:06 Since High School Musical was Zac Efron's big break, some people only saw him as nothing
05:10 more than a good-looking Disney star.
05:12 Nowadays, it's nearly impossible to see the singing, long-haired basketball man from East
05:17 High when you look at Efron's muscled-up physique.
05:20 But back then, he basically was Troy Bolton.
05:22 In the case of director Adam Shankman, he nearly wrote off Efron's sight and scene when
05:27 the actor wanted to audition for Link Larkin in Hairspray.
05:30 In a director's diary for BroadwayWorld.com, Shankman discussed how hesitant he was about
05:35 auditioning Efron because he embodied too much of that Disney brand charm.
05:39 He admitted,
05:40 "I thought he was too 'Disney,' and I didn't really understand what was so special about
05:44 him.
05:45 Once I told him to stop smiling and read the lines again with a little smoke in his voice,
05:48 arch his eyebrow and give me a wink when he met me, I suddenly knew I'd found my Link."
05:52 "Perhaps you'd like to share with the rest of the class Patrick Henry's immortal last
05:57 words?
05:58 'Kiss my ass?'"
06:00 Being typecast as a Disney Channel character sounds like hell on Earth for a maturing child
06:04 star.
06:05 But luckily, Shankman was able to see past the lingering stench of mouse and give Efron
06:10 a chance.
06:11 Like many former child stars, Zac Efron encountered a number of challenges as he became an adult,
06:16 and many of his most important memories from that time took place during the production
06:20 of High School Musical.
06:22 As Troy Bolton grew up, so did Efron, and ever since the actor's escape from the Disney
06:26 machine, he's had the time to reflect on his iconic trilogy.
06:29 So what does High School Musical mean, then?
06:31 To Efron, it's an experience he'll never forget.
06:34 It's a group of friends he'll always treasure.
06:36 And yes, it's a whole lot of money.
06:38 He told BBC Radio 1,
06:39 "We were just friends doing what we loved, and I believe that was my affirmation.
06:43 If it's this much fun and people like it that much, you must be providing them some sort
06:48 of service.
06:49 Almost every teenage service job is utterly soul-crushing, but this is the one exception."
06:53 Efron isn't afraid to express his love for the cast, crew, and fans of High School Musical.
06:59 Even though he resented his East High experience for a little while, he's since come to terms
07:03 with how he rose to fame.
07:04 "Because once a wildcat, always a wildcat."
07:09 Zac Efron isn't exactly a teen heartthrob anymore.
07:13 He's a mid-30s heartthrob.
07:14 Efron has reworked his image over the years by playing R-rated characters and hosting
07:18 his own travel show.
07:20 But even though he once portrayed serial killer Ted Bundy, he's still that same kid who sang
07:24 about soaring and flying.
07:26 Whenever Efron is on the set of some of his big boy movies, his co-stars aren't afraid
07:30 to poke fun at his Disney Channel days.
07:32 During a Q&A for the wrestling biopic The Iron Claw, Efron and his co-star Stanley Simons
07:38 revealed that Simons would sing songs from High School Musical to the former child star
07:42 during the production's downtime.
07:44 He joked,
07:45 "I sung some of 'Breaking Free' to Zac when I was playing my music scene.
07:48 That was definitely a life experience that I'll never forget."
07:51 Simons, who watched Efron from TV as a kid, simply couldn't resist the opportunity to
07:55 goof around.
07:56 Efron admitted he was sort of caught off guard but found it fun, and Simons revealed Efron
08:01 coached him on how to sing it better.
08:03 Sadly, The Iron Claw doesn't feature the pair harmonizing to start off something new.
08:07 We'll just have to wait for the deleted scenes.
08:09 [music]