Lil Zac Efron is All Grown Up

I don't hate Zac Efron. Honestly. I have no reason to considering how hating Zac Efron is, unbeknownst to those totally hip, with it, holier-than-thou haters, just as much a trend as loving him. So there you go.

In fact, more often than not, I've rather liked Efron. It's not that he's a great actor and I predict one day he will win an Oscar or revolutionize acting or anything like that, but really, he constantly brings everything that has been needed to the roles he has thus far chosen and even a little more in some cases. To put it bluntly, the kid is just plain charming. He's an adequate actor, a decent singer and a talented dancer. He's basically Patrick Swayze of John Travolta for today's generation.

In fact, I rather enjoyed high School Musical 3 in a certain guilty pleasure kind of way, loved Hairspray in a not guilty pleasure sort of way, laughed out loud more times than should be reasonably expected from a generic body switching comedy like 17 Again, and although I haven't seen Me and Orsen Wells because well, apparently no one else did either, the reviews were good and knowing Richard Linklater's track record, coupled with the interesting subject matter, it's probably really good.

So I was glad to come across the news on Deadline Hollywood, that Efron has chosen two new projects in which, now that he has done a small art film, he intends to shed his teen cred and become a bonafide movie star. All the power to him.

Here's the scoop. The first movie is called Fire and is adapted from a graphic novel. Efron plays a college student who is recruited by the CIA, only to discover his program is designed to create disposable agents. I smell potential.

Less interesting is, as Deadline calls it, a Back To the Future-like project that, although the plot details are scarce, is a melding together or two concepts that were already being developed. At the very least, this one could still be as amusing as 17 Again.

Of course, this desire to maturation comes after Efron bailed on the proposed Footloose remake, which was to be helmed by choreographer and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega in order to work again with his 17 Again director Burr Steers called The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud which is described as being about a man who is plagued with guilt over the death of his younger brother. Sounds interesting.