The 21 old actor, who had his big breakthrough in Disney's 'High School Musical' series, is trying to prove he's more than just a pretty face and has two major movies on the line.

About Effron's new role in the movie '17':

In a way, it's a strange choice — Efron is trying to prove that he's ready for more adult roles by playing a grown man trapped in a 17-year-old's body. But it's also a smart choice—a family-friendly comedy that doesn't skew straight tween, an ensemble vehicle he can drive but doesn't have to carry. The great Leslie Mann, of Judd Apatow's crew, plays his wife. The great Matthew Perry gives a performance as Efron's droopy-dawg adult self that is best described as good-sportsmanly, when you consider that the part requires him to embody a younger, handsomer actor's total failure at the game of life. And yeah, it's not Cool Hand Luke. It's heartfelt, it's pretty funny, it's a step on the path to something else.

And Efron gets this. "A guy I worked with recently told me, 'You have to earn the right to hold a gun.' And that completely made sense. Can you imagine me running around with a gun in a film? I noticed the second I started that the things you want to be involved with are always just out of reach. Most parts you'd want, people won't really consider you for, because you have to earn that respect. The things people do want you for are usually not things you want to do. At one point, somebody said to me, ‘What do you wanna do? A cool crime drama? Do you wanna shoot up heroin? We'll do anything you wanna do…the Musical."

Last update: 04-19-2009 18:18