In what is becoming a common occurrence this year, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax performed even better than expected, grossing an estimated $17.4 million on Friday. That’s the best opening day ever for a Dr. Seuss adaptation, topping 2000′s How the Grinch Stole Christmas ($15.6 million). It’s also a huge victory for distributor Universal and the young production company Illumination Entertainment, the latter of which is now three for three after the box-office success of Despicable Me and Hop.

The Lorax should finish the weekend with around $60 million — the biggest opening since last November’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1. Also worth noting is that in a day and age when most CG-animated films cost at least $100 million (if not considerably more than that), Universal spent only $70 million on The Lorax. Its future looks bright, too, as the PG-rated movie received a solid “A” rating from CinemaScore audiences. According to the market-research firm, the movie skewed female (62 percent) and young (52 percent under the age of 25).

Source: EW

“The Lorax” is now open in US theaters!  Tickets can be purchased online at: Fandango | Moviefone | Movietickets.com

You’d be forgiven for doing a double take upon seeing Zac Efron’s bulging biceps in his new movie The Lucky One, an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel about a Marine searching for the woman he believes is his good-luck charm. Yes, the former High School Musical star seems changed, matured. No more puppy love. No more bursting into song by the lockers. Just brooding silence, burning desire and…a beard. And man, oh, man, does he look good. So let’s get to know Zac 2.0.

GLAMOUR: The Lucky One is definitely a tearjerker. What’s the last movie that made you cry in the theater?
ZAC EFRON: Toy Story 3. I probably cried like 10 times in that movie. I wasn’t alone! Every other dude there was teary.

GLAMOUR: What was the hardest thing about doing your Lucky One role?
ZAC EFRON: It is sensitive playing a U.S. Marine sergeant. We met with a bunch of staff sergeants at Camp Pendleton. Most of them were my height, but they really had a lot of extra weight on them. So for the role I must have put on 25 pounds.

GLAMOUR: Was your diet crazy?
ZAC EFRON: If I could lay out on a table what I ate in one day, your jaw would drop. It was thousands and thousands of calories. One day I put three chicken breasts into a blender and hit “puree,” because I just couldn’t chew. Chewing was taking so long!

GLAMOUR: You really bulked up! This movie will presumably make you even more of a heartthrob. Who are your wildest female fans?
ZAC EFRON: You know, it’s the moms who are overaggressive. A lot of times their daughters are very sweet and cordial, and the moms tend to grab you and scream and want to kiss you. You gotta watch out for the moms.

GLAMOUR: OK, let’s do some Glamour Facebook fan questions. Chelsi Donaldson asks, What’s your worst habit?
ZAC EFRON: I’m bad at returning phone calls. This is a good example: I saw a missed call from an unknown number, and I didn’t check my voice mail. Finally I got around to it, and it was Michelle Pfeiffer, asking if I was doing New Year’s Eve. She said, “Hurry and call me back, because if you do it, I want to do it.” So I’m going, “Oh my God!”

GLAMOUR: Here’s one from Mona Elizondo: As an actor who is photographed often, do you have any insecurities?
ZAC EFRON: There are those moments when you’re getting off a flight and there’s a bunch of photographers out there, and you’re like, “Whoa, dude. I just woke up. I’ve still got drool on my chin.”

GLAMOUR: What’s your ideal first date?
ZAC EFRON: I think dating, just sitting at a dinner table and forcing yourself to talk, kind of sucks. There’s a really cool wine-tasting place in Vancouver where they set up a canvas for you to paint on while you drink. That’s a fun first date!

GLAMOUR: Do you think long-distance relationships can ever work?
ZAC EFRON: It depends. Everyone’s different. It’s a bit of a challenge. If you’re really in love, you can make anything work.

Magazines & Newspapers > Glamour

A movie with a big happy face, “Liberal Arts” sees actor-writer-director Josh Radnor leaning on the sitcom-inflected tendencies that typified his debut, “Happythankyoumoreplease.” Adding an aspect of sylvan academia to the first film’s Gotham setting, Radnor plays a thirtysomething school admissions adviser ready for change, which he finds on a trip back to his alma mater. Containing the requisite number of audience-pleasing scenes that will make this a hot Sundance bidding item with indie-centric distribs, the pic will at least secure Radnor’s next multihyphenate project.

Radnor’s writing is very aware of its audience — how long it’s willing to wait between laughs, how to bolster the comedy with just enough serious incidents and lines, and how to keep things breezy and geared toward a “life is wonderful” conclusion. This makes the film feel perilously close to widescreen sitcom, as do montages of New York set to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.

Jesse (Radnor) gets a chance to flee the big city when he receives an invite from his favorite professor at Ohio’s Kenyon College, Peter (Richard Jenkins), to attend his retirement dinner. Peter’s friends soon introduce Jesse to their 19-year-old daughter, Elizabeth — nicknamed Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) — who’s attending Kenyon and specializing in improv theater. Jesse is struck by Zibby’s take on improv, in which a performer must always say “yes” to a suggestion.

Through a series of scenes, including Peter’s pathetic retirement party and Jesse’s unlikely encounters with manic-depressive intellectual Dean (John Magaro) and painfully kooky Nat (Zac Efron), a blissful slacker full of aphorisms, “Liberal Arts” draws a slick, simplistic overview of college life, to which Jesse feels nostalgically drawn. He also feels he should be over it, but before he heads back to New York, Zibby sends him off with a CD of her favorite classical music and an agreement to send handwritten letters to each other.

Read full review at Chicago Tribune

D Films has picked up The Paperboy, the upcoming film from Precious director Lee Daniels that stars Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack.

The indie distributor acquired the exclusive Canadian rights in all media to the drama about two brothers investigating a case involving a death row inmate from Millennium Films.

The Paperboy, which is slated for a release this year, is produced by Daniels, Nu Image, Inc./Millennium Films and Benaroya Pictures.

The Canadian deal was hammered out by D Films’ president and CEO Jim Sherry and Millennium Entertainment president of strategic planning and television David Sobieraj.


Source: Hollywood Reporter

MTV: First up for you this year is “The Lucky One,” co-starring Zac Efron. Let’s cut to the obvious question: Is kissing Zac as amazing as one might imagine?

Schilling: Oh my gosh. I’m not going to let you down. It’s not a bad way to make a paycheck.

MTV: My favorite Nicholas Sparks movie motif is the rain-drenched makeout scene. From the trailer, it appears you and Zac share a steamy smooch under a showerhead, which is a bit of a twist. What I’m wondering, technically speaking, is if there’s any special choreography to ensure you don’t drown with all that water falling on you?

Schilling: [Laughs] No, there didn’t seem to be a problem.

MTV: So you’ve got both Ben Affleck and Zac Efron as leading men this year. How are you going to top that? Is Brad Pitt next?

Schilling: I don’t know. I don’t know where it goes from here. Brad Pitt, bring it.

Source: MTV

Also See:
Guide to Career Education can put you on the path to working with the stars.

Superstar and Arroyo Grande native Zac Efron is home for Thanksgiving and he’s helping out teens in need.

Efron made a surprise appearance at the Teen’s Closet in Arroyo Grande and donated some of his old clothes.

Teen’s Closet is part of the Children’s Resource Network of the Central Coast and aims to give needy teens a place where they can find the latest fashions.

Teen’s Closet opened a few weeks ago.

Source: KCOY

Zac is featured in People magazine for their annual Sexiest Man Alive issue. He’s mentioned in the “All Grown Up” spread and is quoted on growing up stating;

As a kid I was a people person- always wanting to play peek-a-boo or hang on someone’s arm. But growing up was one giant awkward stage. I was a late bloomer. Around high school is when I just started to embrace the awkward, have fun and not worry about it.

Magazines & Newspapers > People Sexiest Man Alive 2011

Pick up a copy of the November 28th issue of People magazine (with Bradley Cooper on the cover) now on select newsstands in LA/NY.

Source: ZacE.ZAAngels

Realism isn’t often a staple of romance cinema – films like The Notebook and A Walk to Remember seem to encourage a suspension of disbelief, rather than a concerted engagement with the real world. But forthcoming feature The Lucky One has endeavoured to subvert this genre convention. The latest in a long line of Nicholas Sparks adaptations (which include the aforementioned, as well as Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song), the film focuses on a US Marine Sergeant (Zac Efron) who returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, determined to find the woman whose photograph has become his good luck charm.

In preparation for the film, Australian director Scott Hicks – whose notable credits include Shine and No Reservations – immersed himself in the stories of returned US servicemen. “When I started working on the film, I took Zac down to Camp Pendleton – which is a huge military base in California – and we hung out with a group of Marines who are his age, who really had the experience of the character in the story,” he says. The experience at Camp Pendleton was especially valuable for Efron – whose previous roles haven’t required a great deal of emotional depth.

“It really helped Zac,” Hicks says. “But it was quite difficult, because you are not of [the soldiers'] world. And they’re not sure what your attitude is. So, consequently, they’re not quick to communicate with you. And while Efron might seem like an odd choice for a Marine – “he was concerned that his stature wasn’t going to be right,” Hicks reveals – Nicholas Sparks claims that the actor’s appearance and age only serve to further ground the film in reality.

“When most people think of war movies and the Marines, they conjure up Saving Private Ryan – these are people in their thirties,” the author says. “It’s not like that anymore – we don’t have the draft. 95 percent of people who join the military do so right after high school. These guys are 18 years old; 19, 20, 21. So when you see ‘em – they’re kids. It blows you away. I think Zac is 24? He’s old!” Sparks laughs. “Actually, he’s probably the most realistic portrayal of a soldier that we’ve seen.”

Check out this article at FilmInk.com.au

During Sunday’s casting call for extras for the untitled Ramin Bahrani film currently filming in DeKalb County, Nicole Liddle half-joked that it would be exciting to see the back of her head in the movie.


“This doesn’t really happen in DeKalb,” she said of Sunday’s filming and casting call at the Egyptian Theatre. “I definitely think for the area it’s unique.”


DeKalb County has received its share of exposure recently, from filming for the Bahrani movie – which stars Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron – in various DeKalb County locations.

Source: Daily Chronicle

The DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau has announced an open casting call on behalf of the “Untitled Ramin Bahrani Film” being shot in DeKalb County this fall.

The movie is an independent film starring Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens and Heather Graham.

DeKalb County residents are encouraged to attend the open call from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, at the historic Egyptian Theatre located in downtown DeKalb, 135 N. Second St. All ages are welcome to attend. No experience is necessary.

“The movie crew would like to show their appreciation for the warm welcome they have received here by casting community members,” said Debbie Armstrong, executive director of the DeKalb County CVB.

View full article at NIU Today

Source: NIU Today

When crew members heard “cut” on set of the Zac Efron drama “The Lucky One,” which wrapped a 10-week New Orleans shoot on Tuesday (Dec. 21), they took it to heart. And so as actor-heartthrob Efron heads home for the holidays, he is leaving behind a much balder crew base than that which he found while adding cash to the coffers of a New Orleans charity.

In addition to visiting the gym regularly to bulk up for the role and growing a dashing chin of stubble, Efron had his hair trimmed in a military-style buzzcut. That got him thinking: Why should he be the only one making tonsorial sacrifices for the film? So he made a deal with the crew last week: For every crew member who also shaved his or her head, Efron would donate cash to Kingsley House.

By the time the shears had stopped, some 30 crew members had put themselves on the chopping block, including two women whose lengthy castoffs were donated to Locks of Love, the national organization that makes wigs for sick children.

Just as importantly, Efron was on the hook for thousands of dollars, although his Los Angeles-based publicist, Gina Hoffman, declined to provide an exact figure.

“He likes doing things for charity — two Make-A-Wish kids came a visit to the set while he was there — and he felt like he wanted to do something for a New Orleans charity since he had such a nice time shooting there,” Hoffman said Tuesday afternoon. (That is, something above and beyond the countless autographs he signed for local teenage fans who exhibited an impressive aptitude for sniffing out shooting locations.)

Source: nola.com

The cameras began rolling this week on Zac Efron’s next assignment. He will be starring in the big-screen adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks book The Lucky One. The film is being directed by Scott Hicks, director of the Academy Award-nominated “Shine”, and is being filmed on location in Louisiana.

Efron will play Logan Thibault, a marine that has survived three tours of duty in Iraq. He carries a photograph of an unknown woman, believing that it is his good luck charm. When he learns the woman’s name and where she lives, he seeks her out. After the two get to know each other, a romance blossoms between them. The woman, Beth, will be played by Taylor Schilling. Schilling is probably best known for her work on the NBC television series Mercy.

Cinematography is being performed by Alar Kivilo, who operated the camera on last year’s highly successful “The Blind Side.” The screenplay was written by Will Fetters, whose first script was last year’s “Remember Me.” The future Warner Bros. Pictures release(which has not officially been titled) is being shot in and around New Orleans.

Source: Examiner

KIM BASINGER almost turned down the chance to play ZAC EFRON’s mother in CHARLIE ST. CLOUD until her starstruck teenage daughter convinced her to take on the role.

The actress admits she was unsure about whether to accept a part in the High School Musical hunk’s new drama, about a young man mourning the death of his brother.

But when Basinger’s daughter Ireland discovered she’d been linked to the role, she “went nuts” and urged her mum to accept the job.

She says, “When I mentioned it to my 14-year-old daughter it was the funniest thing. She went nuts. She said, ‘What, not go to Vancouver and not play Zac Efron’s mom?’ She said, ‘You’re crazy!’”

Source: contactmusic.com

Noah Oppenheim is set to write the remake of the acclaimed Swedish crime thriller Snabba Cash. The story centers on a man living a double-life as a coke dealer. Oppenheim first generated attention when Steven Spielberg cast his eye on Oppenheim’s script about Jackie Kennedy’s life in the days following JFK’s assassination. In addition to reporting that Oppenheim will pen the remake of Snabba Cash, 24 Frames confirms that Rachel Weisz is attached to play Jackie and that Darren Aronofsky is on board to direct.

Source: Collider

COUP DE MAIN: First of all, congratulations on your new film ‘Charlie St. Cloud’! It’s a very moving story. What was running through your mind the first time that you read the script?
ZAC EFRON: Thank you. Thank you very much! The first time I read the script, it was kind of too good to be true because I happened to be spending the night on my Dad’s sailboat just to sort of change things up. When I opened the script, I didn’t know it was about sailing. It just had the name on it: ‘Charlie St. Cloud’. But when I flipped it open, the first thing was the sailboat race. And there I was, on the front-deck of a really nice sailboat. And as soon as I started to read into the race, I remember, the wind kind of picked up. And I was like: ‘Wow!’ It was kind of like in ‘The NeverEnding Story’ or something. It was kind of weird!

CDM: I guess like all good things in life, it was meant to be…
ZAC: Yeah exactly – well put!

CDM: What drew you to play the character of Charlie St. Cloud?
ZAC: His emotional journey. He has a close relationship with his brother and I can relate to that as well. And then the way that he becomes withdrawn, is just… I could sympathize with it, but at the same time, I didn’t know if I could actually achieve that. It seemed like a harder cast than just another musical or something like that – it would be a new experience for me. And that was the other intriguing side of it.

CDM: Having a younger brother yourself, did that give you some helpful insight to draw upon?
ZAC: It did indeed. I just had a whole lifetime of memories to think about my little bro. So I called into it often. I just thought about all the good times we had and what it would be like without him and that was a pretty strong emotional trigger for me.

CDM: After watching the film last week, I longed to steal Tess’ boat and sail off into the sunset… did you ever feel that urge too?
ZAC: Oh yeah – oh man! Every day. Especially after a long press tour. I think it would be a great way to see the world, on a sailboat. Something about getting there on the power of the wind, is empowering. It feels organic and it feels liberating.

Visit Coup De Main Magazine to read the rest of this article.

Source: Coup De Main Magazine