{"id":114148,"date":"2016-02-24T15:25:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=114148"},"modified":"2017-12-11T08:28:49","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T13:28:49","slug":"mitchell-fain-presents-part-4-zac-efron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=114148","title":{"rendered":"Conversations with Mitchell, Part 4: Zac Efron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zac-efron-body-23\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nPart 1<\/a>: Justin Timberlake, Lena Horne, Doris Day, Jill Clayburgh, Cary Grant, Don Rickles.
\nPart 2: <\/a> Woody Allen, Joan Crawford, Lily Tomlin, Claude Rains, Burt Reynolds.
\nPart 3:<\/a> Joan Rivers.
\nThe game: I pick a bunch of famous people, without alerting Mitchell as to who they are beforehand. I throw their names at him one by one, first asking him to describe each person using only one word (because nobody sums people up like Mitchell), and then moving onward to a discussion. Mitchell and I have been friends since we met in college. We have been having conversations like this for years, so I thought it would be fun to start taping them. <\/p>\n

First up? ZAC EFRON<\/b>, an actor\/singer\/dancer\/sex-symbol Mitchell and I have already discussed ad nauseum. I was riveted by what he did in Neighbors<\/i> (wrote about it here<\/a>), but I’ve liked him in other things as well. <\/p>\n

So let’s get to it. <\/i><\/p>\n

Sheila O’Malley:<\/big> Zac Efron. One word. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitchell Fain:<\/strong><\/big> Oh God. I’m already trying not to be prurient. I’m just going to say Prurience<\/strong> and call it a day. So the first thing is that he becomes famous when he’s a kid. He’s so pretty he looks like Japanese anime. <\/p>\n

\n\"boy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\"550x298_zac-efron-discusses-high-school-musical-and-his-career-5031\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And he’s the kind of boy who is so beautiful that he’s almost feminine. He doesn’t behave in an effeminate manner, but – <\/p>\n

SOM:<\/big> He’s beautiful, as opposed to handsome. <\/strong><\/p>\n

MF:<\/strong><\/big> Of course now he’s becoming handsome as he gets older and thicker … and … I can’t talk about it … hairy-chested … This is going to be painful. I have an appreciation for talented cute teeny-bopper boys. Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Lance Kerwin, Willie Aames, Scott Baio<\/strong> – adorable beautiful boys. <\/p>\n

Zac is the fantasy of little girls and little gay boys everywhere, especially in High School Musical<\/em>, because he was so un-threatening. What’s interesting about Zac Efron, and I would put Daniel Radcliffe<\/strong> in a similar category: These boys got an amazing opportunity, young, and for a long time they had very little control over their careers. They were children.<\/p>\n

But let’s go back. Let’s not dismiss High School Musical<\/em>. The High School Musical<\/em> phenomenon is not to be under-estimated as far as the buying power of Tweens. High School Musical<\/em> almost invented the word Tween. We started to talk about Tweens almost because<\/em> of High School Musical<\/em>. <\/p>\n

\n\"scream-6077\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SOM:<\/big> Those Tweens will be fans of Zac Efron until he’s 80. If Ralph Macchio opened in a movie right now, I would camp out outside the theatre. That’s a crush dating from when I was 12 that will last my life. Please continue. <\/strong><\/p>\n

MF:<\/strong><\/big> In a way, the fall and limitations of someone like Ryan O’Neal<\/strong> is such a shame to me because I’d still go see him in anything. If he were still a viable movie star the way that Richard Gere<\/strong> is still a viable movie star … He changed my life at 6 or 7 years old, when I first saw that beautiful blonde man. <\/p>\n

\n\"whatsupdoc08\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nLike Radcliffe, Efron has now taken control of his career. Maybe Daniel Radcliffe has made smarter choices, more intellectual choices, but both of them have taken control in a way that is appropriate for them, and it’s rare, and cool. <\/p>\n

There was that thing at some red carpet event where Zac Efron reached into his pocket and condoms fell out. Really, Zac? Come on. I think that was a completely deliberate thing. I think he and his friends or he and his managers were like, “How do we get people to think of me as a person who fucks people? I need people to stop thinking about my pretty face. I’m a grown-up now and I want you to think about the fact that I put rubber on my hard cock and then put it in people.” The red carpet moment made you think: Zac Efron carries condoms?<\/em> <\/p>\n

\n