Zac Efron has pulled out of Paramount’s planned remake of “Footloose,” according to a new report because he fears being typecast as a cute song-and-dance man. The new “Footloose,” a remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon classic, and is to be helmed by Kenny Ortega, who directed all three “High School Musicals.” Shooting was to begin this spring in Atlanta, with a targeted release date in 2010. The budget was well over $20 million.But insiders told TheWrap that Efron had script approval on the movie and used a rewrite on the screenplay as the loophole to get out of his contract: “People had been working on this project since last July — we were all shocked.”
After starring in Disney’s first three “High School Musical” films, Zac is looking to show his full acting chops. While Disney is planning a “High School Musical 4,” Efron is not expected to be a part of it. He got a taste of more serious roles in guest parts on “NCIS” and “CSI: Miami,” and took on a starring role in “Me and Orson Welles,” a drama with Claire Danes, directed by Richard Linklater, in which he plays a Broadway actor who has a chance meeting with Welles in 1937. The film, scheduled for 2008, however has not yet been released.
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