Over the last couple years, Zac Efron, who’s worked in Hollywood since he was 14, has watched the gap between his public and private personas narrow considerably. And despite his recent troubles, this is a good thing.
Efron’s heightened media profile coincides with the release of the Seth Rogen comedy “Neighbors,” in which he has been cast against type as a party-loving university student who spins dangerously out of control during an escalating turf war with the young parents who live next door (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne).
The irony is lost on no one.
Off-screen, the actor has been working hard to get his life back on track — joining Alcoholics Anonymous and signing up for a course of therapy.
On-screen, he has been similarly diligent — even taking a pay cut to get the $18 million “Neighbors” off the ground.
“Both Seth and I didn’t really take any money to do the film, but we have some of it in the back end,” the actor says.
“We wanted to work it together, so that’s the way we had to do it to get the movie made. It’s more of a gamble, but that’s the kind of gamble one has to make.
“Ultimately you want to make sure you do the work and make a great film and then you deserve it, right?”
Efron has had hits (“Hairspray”) and misses (“Charlie St. Cloud”) in his attempt to make the notoriously difficult transition from child star to adult actor.
Determined to get it right, he asked industry veterans such as Tom Cruise for their advice.
“I won’t talk specifically about those conversations, but I think they were pretty candid and common sense-driven,” Efron says.
“You have to be aware — and I am — of who you are and what you bring to the table, and even more importantly, how you are perceived.
“You really have to take into account what your place is, how you can shape that to what you want it to be in the future and what the steps are to get there.”
One of those steps was Scott Hicks’ adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel “The Lucky One,” in which Efron played a veteran of the Iraq war struggling to come to terms with what he had seen on the battlefield.
The actor has also earned himself a bit of creative wiggle room on quality independent projects such as Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles,” Josh Radnor’s “Liberal Arts” and Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy,” in which he played Nicole Kidman’s love interest.
“I knew it was going to be outside my comfort zone and I did question whether or not I could pull it off, but it’s the sort of opportunity you don’t really pass up.”
This article originally appeared on News.com.au.