| The coming-of-age of ZAC EFRON in 'CHARLIE ST. CLOUD'. |
| Written by Shahlin Graves |
| Saturday, 25 September 2010 23:35 |
 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> 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. <laughs> 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. CDM: With so many work commitments and your life often revolving around pre-planned schedules, do you ever get itchy feet and bored? ZAC: Definitely. I've always sort of prided myself on being off-the-cuff - and just to get up and see where the day takes me. That's gotten a little bit harder as of late, so I've sort of had to try and put in a little more effort to get out there and see the things I want to see, and to do the things in life that are really exciting. But that doesn't stop me from doing 'em, at all. In fact, I kind of overcompensate these days when getting out there, and just living life to the extreme when I'm not working. CDM: In the film, Charlie likes to sketch. Is that also something you enjoy? ZAC: I do! I love drawing. Actually that's one of my favorite things to do. I'm sort of an amateur artist. CDM: Do you draw when you see something of interest that catches your eye? Or is it more sort of doodling when you're bored? ZAC: It's both. I used to draw a lot of comic book stuff when I was younger. Now I do a little bit more free-form. I just like drawing people and stuff. The hardest thing for me is actually drawing people. I've sort of been doing a lot of that recently, like hands, and organic things - they're pretty difficult to draw. CDM: Having basically lived out Charlie's emotions during filming, do you have any advice for people trying to cope with great loss or inconsolable grief? ZAC: Keeping in mind I haven't ever experienced a loss as great as Charlie has, but I think the message of the film is that: it's important to keep the memory of your loved one alive, and to remember to keep living the way they would have wanted you to live. And that is - experiencing life to it's fullest every day and moving on.  CDM: I thought the love scene between Charlie and Tess [played by Amanda Crew] was really well-done in it's romantic simplicity. Do you think that particular graveyard scene is proof that you can be incredibly meaningful on the big screen without explicit sex scenes? ZAC: Gosh. I didn't really think about that to be honest. Yes! It's really where it comes from. I think if it comes from love and the relationship is deserving, it just needs to be organic and feel real between the characters. What actually happens, is sort of always up to you in a moment, or up to a director's taste. But, you don't necessarily have to have the graphic stuff, I don't think. CDM: I've always been a believer that more is less... ZAC: Yeah - well said! CDM: Tess and Charlie refer to an E.E. Cummings poem in the film - are there any literary quotes, or even advice you've been given, that you've really taken to heart? ZAC: It's not so much poetry right now, but I'm just starting a book called JKD or the 'Tao Of Jeet Kune Do'. It's Bruce Lee's book. He's one of my favourite movie stars, and he's an amazing philosopher. So I've been reading a lot of his words and trying to keep them in mind when going about all these adventures and stuff. CDM: Charlie and Sam [played by Charlie Tahan] enjoy sledding in the rain! What does Zac Efron like to do for fun? ZAC: Everything! Lately I've been on a nature kick. I like getting out and doing hikes and back-packing and just going to the mountains and stuff like that 'cuz there's no people out there. <laughs> So it's a nice way to relax and get away and see a different part of the world. CDM: Your co-star Augustus Prew has said that you like skateboarding to escape paparazzi... ZAC: Yeah. <laughs> CDM: Is skateboarding something you like to do in your downtime? ZAC: Yes absolutely - I love it. CDM: Does it ever get overwhelming having to separate the different public and private sides of your life - or have you grown quite accustomed to separating work from play? ZAC: It takes a constant balancing act. At times, it can become frustrating and you just can't let it get to you. A long time ago, I promised myself that no matter what happens, I'm just going to keep living my life for me, and according to my own standards and not pay attention to what everyone else says about it. As long as you can maintain that, then you should be alright. It is weird, when they cross the line with your family. Usually, we can just laugh about it. And they're very understanding, so I'm pretty lucky in that regard.  |
