EARTH TO ZAC EFRON
Lover, Activist + Actor
The new Netflix docuseries Down to Earth with Zac Efron casts The Greatest Showman actor as a globe-trotting traveler. Throughout eight episodes Efron and his travel companion, wellness guru Darin Olien set out to explore planet earth in search of sustainable, eco-friendly ways to live. It is a far cry from a scantily-clad Efron in a typical rom-com or a serial killer biopic. The Hollywood hunk takes on the role of rugged and scruffy journeyman and his fans love it.
Over the weekend, the chatter on Twitter was loud and clear. Efron’s fans still lust for the High School Musical teen star, turned serious actor, turned documentary host who is also bearded and buff. He milks a goat in San Juan, dons a beekeeper suit, bakes bread, takes an ice bath in Iceland and isn’t afraid to go shirtless. One viewer took to Twitter, “Just started the Zac Efron show on Netflix. I hate thirsting after straight men, but here I am.”
Is this a new direction for Efron? In the fourth episode of Down to Earth, during which Zac and Darin visit Sardinia, the star reveals he’s “gotta get out of Hollywood,” adding that he is “done” with that lifestyle because “it is not a place conducive to living a long, happy, mentally-sound life.” And he should know. He was only 19-years-old while filming the smash hit High School Musical. It’s a typical Hollywood story. Child actor turns to substance abuse and a well-publicized stint in rehab follows. He told the Hollywood Reporter, “I was drinking a lot, way too much,” he says, acknowledging there were drugs, too. “It’s never one specific thing. I mean, you’re in your 20s, single, going through life in Hollywood, you know? Everything is thrown at you. I wouldn’t take anything back; I needed to learn everything I did. But it was an interesting journey, to say the least.”
No stranger to tabloid fodder Efron was once linked to Nicki Minaj. Recently, the almost decade-old story has resurfaced as a “source” revealed to Star Magazine that rapper Minaj hooked up with Efron and said he was the best lover she ever had. Nicki Minaj did take to Twitter to denounce the rumors when she asked her millions of followers, “Who exactly is Zac Efron tho? I’m sorry, I’m so confused.”
Efron is now 32 and has continued to work since his franchise success with Disney’s High School Musical. He starred alongside Seth Rogen in the comedy Neighbors and worked with Matthew McConaughey in The Paper Boy and The Beach Bum. In 2016, he teamed up with legend Robert De Niro in the comedy Dirty Grandpa. He was cast in the Golden Globe-winning The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman. Still, it was his role as Ted Bundy in the Netflix biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile that allowed Efron to show he can do more than buddy films and whimsical musicals. The director Joe Berlinger said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, “Zac was my first choice for the role.”
For now, Efron is off the grid in a survival reality series called Killing Zac Efron. He rids himself of all luxuries for 21 days but essential gear, a guide and a will to survive. The adventure series is streaming on Quibi.
