Ah, Zac Efron . It seems like just yesterday he was getting his head in the game throughout the High School Musical trilogy , or trying to figure his life out in 17 Again . Oh yeah, and he was in Hairspray , too.
But now, the 34-year-old actor is taking on much more grown up roles (I mean, it would be pretty weird if he was still playing teenagers).
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But now, he’s talking about being a dad (in a movie).
This week, Efron sat down with Ellen on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about his role in Firestarter , a horror remake set to release later this week.
In the movie, Efron plays Andy McGee, father to character Charlie McGee, around whom the film revolves.
Despite the fact that Efron is definitely old enough to portray a dad on screen, the thought of actually seeing that feels a little wrong.
Yeah… his fans don’t seem to be taking it too well.
It feels like just yesterday my preteen self was getting ready for the cinematic masterpiece that is High School Musical 2 . And now one of its stars is playing dads ? Say it ain’t so!
Funny enough, it seems like Efron himself is just as shocked as the rest of us.
In his interview with Ellen, Zac talked about how playing a dad was an adjustment he wasn’t quite ready or at the time of filming.
“I didn’t think about it all that much,” he tells Ellen.
He explains that he had to quarantine before filming, “and when I got out of quarantine, we started filming that Monday, so it was a pretty quick intro to the film. And all of a sudden I had this daughter in front of me.”
“We had a pretty heavy dad daughter scene, like right off the bat.”
“And I realized I was drastically underprepared for this part. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
To be fair, this is his first time portraying a dad on screen.
Of course, it got a lot easier as filming pressed on.
Efron talked about how he and his costar and on-screen child, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, developed a strong bond “after two days of filming,” which made acting as father and daughter a lot easier.
But the real question now is, will we see real life Efron juniors any time soon?
Being a dad and playing one on TV or in a movie are two very different things, but Ellen still wondered if the experience made Zac want to be a dad anytime soon.
But it looks like he’s going to be holding off on fatherhood.
For the time being, at least.
“I think it was a healthy dose to put me off for as long as necessary,” he went on to tell Ellen.
“I have a bit more growing to do, probably.”
That sounds fair. And sure, while Efron might be ready to play dads in his upcoming roles, we don’t have to worry about him being an actual parent for a while at least. We can all hold onto our youths a little bit longer.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
