“What happened to Zac Efron’s face?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions by the international press in the last two months. As with stars of the caliber of Demi Moore, Renée Zellweger and Meg Ryan, public attention and speculation about possible aesthetic accents are now focused on this 36-year-old Californian, who became famous for his leading role in High School Musical. In his case, his “unrecognizable” appearance is attributed to slightly swollen cheekbones and a visibly different jawline than usual, although the actor has explained for years that his physical change was due to a serious domestic accident and he had to undergo a complete facial reconstruction. The debate over his face was so widespread that anyone described as a “Disney Wonder Boy” had to admit that even his mother had called him to ask if he had had any cosmetic touch-ups without her knowledge. Speculation is now resurfacing on the occasion of the premiere of Efron's acclaimed latest film “The Iron Claw”, based on the true story of the Von Erichs, a family of wrestling fighters marked by tragedy. The film put the actor on the catapult toward the next Oscars for the first time, after years of navigating the industry without pain or glory. Will he finally win the championship belt?
The first evidence that the recently released 2024 may be the year of Zac Efron's rebirth dates back to December 11th, when he unveiled his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A recognition of the 18 years that have passed since his role as Troy Bolton in High School Musical and a reminder of his status in the industry that actor Jeremy Allen-White says will be of great benefit to the award-winning actor. “It's like Zac Efron doesn't know he's a big movie star. So that he is never forgotten again, we are all here today to remember him by placing a star with his name on the ground,” said the protagonist of the series “The Bear” and his co-star in “The Iron Claw “.
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This indie melodrama will premiere in Spain on February 16, but it has already sparked a passionate campaign on the networks in support of Zac Efron's merits, with hundreds of comments calling for a nomination. There are the past examples of Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey… The justification and legitimization by the public of a well-known Hollywood face, never before appreciated by critics, is one of the most powerful traditions in any It's awards season and Efron stands out as the perfect ambassador for those wishes this year. “It's crazy. I don't even want to think about it. I only got one star, so I have to slow down a bit. “I'm happy with what I have,” he replied when asked about the rumors about the statuette became.
Scholars would do well to pay attention to the actor's profile because, despite his young age, his career ticks all the boxes of the stereotypical redemption stories so popular in Hollywood. After becoming an absolute idol of the millennial generation, Efron could not find a place in cinematic maturity and experienced a series of well-known failures with critics and audiences, such as “Dirty Grandpa” or the adaptation of “Baywatch”. A career that was in turn burdened by an alcohol and drug addiction that landed him in a rehab clinic in 2013 and whose consumption he described as a “social lubricant” necessary to withstand the media pressure that was on him in his early days have. Soon after, his name made headlines for getting into an altercation with a homeless man in a Los Angeles neighborhood.
Zac Efron was no longer Troy Bolton. He wasn't the prom king, the captain of the basketball team, or the lead singer of the high school musical. His future in the industry hung in the balance. “I am human and have made many mistakes. “I learned from every single one of them,” he confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Perhaps due to the rigorous scrutiny he faced or because he was trying to extend his Peterpanesque charms past 30, Efron decided to transform his body in the gym, flaunting an altered physique that after a while he did too regretted. “It wasn’t a realistic picture,” he said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “I don't want anyone to think that's the healthiest image you can project. “It's not glamorous… settle for being happy at your size.”
Given the impossibility of reaching the next level of Hollywood, the decision to move to the idyllic Australian shores of Byron Bay – the same town where Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth live – at the beginning of this century seemed like a final surrender. He sold his Los Angeles villa for more than five million euros, fell in love with Vanessa Valladares, the waitress at a local restaurant, and put his acting side aside to star in the environmentally conscious and sustainable documentary on Netflix “Con los pies on the Earth. But the romance lasted barely a year and the platform canceled the series this summer, just as the second season was premiering, leaving the actor once again faced with the obligation of reinventing himself. Luckily for him and the fans who have waited nearly two decades for him to finally get his chance to shine, the lead role in The Iron Claw was just a few months away. Because there is no one better than Zac Efron in the mecca of cinema to step into the ring and bring to life an anti-hero characterized by early successes, defeats and a body as hypertrophied as the intensity of the Spotlights focused on his figure. We'll see if future red carpets recognize this.