Zac Efron to Star in Footloose Remake

Brian Scott Lipton

New York City

July 11, 2007

Zac Efron

Zac Efron, a star of Disney's ultra-popular High School Musical and the soon-to-be-released film version of Hairspray, is expected to headline a film remake of Footloose, according to published reports. Kenny Ortega, the director of High School Musical, is in talks to direct and choreograph the new Paramount film, which would be a full-blown musical.

The original 1984 film focused on Ren Woods (played by Kevin Bacon), who moves to a small town where dancing has been banned, and shakes everything up. The film was turned into Broadway musical, which ran for over 700 performances between 1998-2000.

Efron played the lead role of Troy Bolton in High School Musical and its sequel High School Musical 2, which will begin airing on the Disney Channel on August 17. He plays Link Larkin in Hairspray, which will open nationwide on July 20, and also starred as Cameron Bale in the television series Summerland.