If ZAC EFRON even so ventures outside his front door – paparazzi are ready to pounce. If Zac Efron yawns – celebrity bloggers pen screeds deliberating upon the inner workings of the twenty-two year old’s thoughts as he stares off into the distance. If Zac Efron sprouts a beard – then the odds are all to none that media will grill him about it on every leg of his latest worldwide press tour in support of new film ‘CHARLIE ST. CLOUD‘.

Efron first made on-screen waves as Cameron Bale in the TV show ‘Summerland’ (which also starred Jesse McCartney). But it was in 2006 as the ‘High School Musical’ franchise’s Troy Bolton, that Efron serenaded and danced his way into the hearts of a global audience of over 255 million. The next obvious role was of course, Link Larkin in 2007′s movie adaptation of ‘Hairspray’. Two ‘High School Musical’ sequels and a feature film opposite ’17 Again’ Matthew Perry later, saw Efron dabbling in Shakespeare as an aspiring thespian in ‘Me And Orson Welles’, opposite Claire Danes.

In inevitable real-time, as with Efron, the generation that had grown up belting ‘Breaking Free’ and ‘We’re All In This Together’, were growing… up. It would seem that Efron, acutely aware of the temporary shelf-lives of tween poster-boys, knew that he needed to dive head-first into darker depths than a 1930′s period-piece. And thus, Efron disengaged himself from a remake of the musical ‘Footloose’, to instead pursue the lead in the film adaptation of a book that had attracted a fierce bidding war between three film studios, even before the book had been published. Ben Sherwood’s ‘The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud’ exhibited all the hallmarks of a Nicholas Sparks classic – easily translatable into a romantic drama for the big-screen.

Zac Efron’s last port-of-call on ‘Charlie St. Cloud’ promotional duties was in Sydney, Australia. While there, he gave us a ring…

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 <laughs> in ‘The NeverEnding Story’ or something. It was kind of weird! <laughs>

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Added 30 new high quality candid photos of Zac Efron outside a salon in Beverly Hills on September 27th.

Teen star Zac Efron has said that he never gets used to the crowd making mayhem to see him, but at the same time he thank fans for being there. Efron’s appearance in Australia last week required a huge police presence, street closures, public barricades and an army of publicists (from Australia and the US) – all because of the legion of screaming fans eager to see the blue-eyed film idol in the flesh.

“Inevitably, when you walk out there, just the volume of it and… the hysteria that kind of goes on, it gets me every time,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

“I don’t really know how to handle it; it’s weird that you incite that kind of reaction. Every time, it’s like, Is this me? Is it really me that’s causing this? You never quite feel worthy of that.”

“But at the same time, you can’t withdraw, because I want to be there for them. I am very grateful that they’re there and they do care,” he said.

Efron rose to popularity after the phenomenal success of the ‘High School Musical’ franchise and breakout films such as ‘Hairspray’ and ‘17 Again.’

Source: One India

Zac Efron has described “Death & Life Of Charlie St. Cloud” as more real than his previous films. Speaking to Premiere, the “High School Musical” star said that he is not concerned about alienating his younger fans with his new role.

“It’s a bit more real than before, we’re no longer in a heightened reality. These things do happen!” Efron said, referring to his character’s drinking and relationship with Amanda Crew’s yachtswoman Tess Carroll.

He continued: “I think [fans] are old enough now, at least the ones who’ll come see this movie, hopefully they’ll understand that and won’t be too taken aback by it. It’s quite soft.”

Commenting on the movie’s central love story, Efron said: “It’s real, it’s true love.”

“Death & Life Of Charlie St. Cloud” opens in the UK on October 8.

Source: Digital Spy