After the passing of actor Matthew Perry earlier this month, we reported that Perry had confided to a friend that he had hopes of making a biopic based on his life. His friend, Athenna Crosby recently told Entertainment Tonight Canada:
“He said that he wanted to make a movie about his life. And he had worked with Zac Efron in the past on a movie. He said that he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version and that he was gonna ask him soon to do that.”
She went on to add:
“He was just looking forward to sharing more about his story and his recovery from addiction, and really championing that cause to help more people. So he was so optimistic and happy about everything that he wanted to do.”
Perry starred together with Efron in the 2009 teen fantasy comedy 17 Again, in which Perry’s character gets magically transformed back to his 17-year-old self. The two actors played the same character at different ages.
Now that this news has been shared, Efron has responded, telling People magazine on the red carpet for his upcoming drama, The Iron Claw:
”I’m honored to hear he was thinking of me to play him. We’ll see. I’d be honored to do it. He was a mentor to me, and we made a really cool film together. I looked up to him, I learned comedic timing from that guy. I mean, when we were filming ’17 Again,’ it was so surreal for me to look across and have him be there, because I’ve learned so much from him, from his whole life.”
This is really cool to hear. I don’t know if this project will ever get off the ground without Perry driving it, but if it did, it would be neat to see Efron back in the role. I thought he did a great job of capturing Perry’s mannerisms in 17 Again, and I think he would do a great job playing him in another role.