Every time a new film comes along that Zac Efron is attached to star in, I say it looks like a deliberate attempt to break away from his teen heart-throb image and show he’s now a proper grown up actor. Then I start to think maybe I’m just being mean and he’s just taking the best roles that come along for his age group. However now he wants to play a marine, and it’s difficult not to thing a lot of the reasoning behind that is to try and get people to see him as a man and not a boy.
Variety reports that the High School Musical star is in talks to take the lead role in The Lucky One, a part that’s previously been linked to both Daniel Radcliffe and James Franco. The film is an adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel, whose romantic tomes Hollywood is mining for all their worth at the moment (just this year we’ve had Dear John and The Last Song).
Scott Hicks (Shine, The Boys Are Back) will direct the film, about a Marine who, while on a tour of duty in Iraq, finds a photo of a mysterious woman. He stashes away the photo for good luck and then uncovers a group of secrets when he eventually seeks out the woman. Will Fetters is on scripting duties, with Warner Bros (where Zac has his production company) seeing the film as a priority project. Efron has numerous project in the works at the moment, but it seems if he does sign on for The Lucky One, this would jump to the front of the queue.