Zac Efron To Star As Serial Killer Ted Bundy In Biopic

Former tweens and teens surely remember the first time laying eyes on the boyish, dreamboat that is Zac Efron. His first big break in Hollywood was starring a signing basketball star Troy Bolton in the hit Disney musical franchise High School Musical. Since breaking from Disney, he’s taken to acting in more adult comedic roles, in films such as Dirty Grandpa (2016), Neighbours 1 and 2 (2014 & 2016), and the upcoming Baywatch reboot. However, Zac is preparing to take a large deviation from his usual choice of film. Principle photography for the upcoming Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is set to begin this October, with Zac taking center stage as American’s most notorious serial killer.

For those unfamiliar with true crime and serial killers, Ted Bundy was an American serial killer active from 1974 to 1978. He confessed to kidnapping, sexually assault, torturing, and killing 30 women in the states of Washington, Utah, Florida, and Oregon before his execution in 1989; though he is suspected of killing more and having even killed in 1961, when he was just 14 years old. What fascinated people the most about him was the fact that he was considered very attractive and was extremely intelligent, having been accepted to law school prior to his murders, and his ability to captivate and manipulate many people into believing in his innocence.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is to be told from the perspective of Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy’s on-and-off girlfriend of several years and the woman who helped police bring him down. Elizabeth initially denied and refused to believe the accusations that Bundy was responsible for the many murders and disappearances, but upon seeing evidence and police sketches resembling her boyfriend, called police to lead them in his direction.

Joe Berlinger is slated to direct the film, best known for his work on the Paradise Lost films, a documentary series about the West Memphis 3, a group of teenage boys falsely accused of killing three young boys in 1993. Michael Werwie wrote the film’s script, with Voltage Pictures, a film financing and distribution production company, producing the film via Nicholas Chartier and Ara Keshishian. Principle photography for the upcoming biopic is set to begin this October.

While there may be some doubt about whether the clean cut, blue-eyed pretty boy best known for singing and dancing in the halls of a high school, we can all hope that Zac Efron does the grisly and dark world of Ted Bundy justice by portraying him as exactly what he was – handsome, smart, and cunning.