Zac's Ba-ack!

Zac's Ba-ack!

Posted: May 7, 2009 8:57 AM
Updated: May 7, 2009 8:57 AM

Girl World Daily: pop nation

From the Editors of Girl World Daily

We seriously don’t know one girl who isn’t gaga over Zac Efron. Our fave leading man goes back to school for his new flick 17 Again, but it’s a far cry from East High. In this “you don't know what you’ve got till it’s gone” comedy, Zac flexes his funny bone and…well, we'll let him fill ya in on the rest.

Q: In the film, your character, Mike, goes back in time to relive his “glory days.” Now that you’re 21, what would you love to relive from the year you were 17?

A: I remember so many good times. Me and five of my very close friends had an improv troupe, and we traveled across the country to perform in competitions. Also, I was doing speech and debate when I was 17. That was very fun. The highlight was probably taking second place at Berkeley, which is a pretty big competition.

Q: When Mike first goes back to high school, he’s kind of dorky and doesn’t fit in. Have you ever felt that way in real life?
A: Completely. High school is one of those weird times in your life when you become hyperaware of where you are in the social hierarchy. It was my sophomore year when I realized I wasn’t at all the coolest kid in school. I didn’t want to be -- I was more focused on grades and things like that. I had my core group of friends, and we were inseparable.

Q: Matthew Perry of TV’s Friends fame plays the older version of your character. Did you find yourself mimicking him, or did you keep your character separate?

A: A little of both. Definitely the hardest thing to imagine was what Matthew would have been like as a 17-year-old, and that was fun to figure out. Talking with him on set, I got the feeling all his amazing wit and incredible timing and trademark smirk would have been more animated as a teenager, so that was the creative license to do an off version of Matthew. That’s what I did. I kind of just hung out with him, got a sense of his personality.

17 Again opens in the United States on April 17, 2009.