Torn Between Two Women: Zac Efron’s character Link is with Amber Von Tussle but then becomes attracted to the new girl on the scene, Tracy Turnblad (played by newcomer Nikki Blonsky). Playing that guy torn between two women was, as Efron puts it, fun. Efron said, “It was a fun transition going from the coolest girl in school who’s perhaps shallow and transitioning to the interesting choice, as far as I’m concerned. You know, Link pairing up with Nikki at the end of the film and their big kiss is coming at a great time. I’m really excited for the message. It’s perfect. It’s funny but in my personal life I tend to shy away from the perfect blonde super-skinny girls. So yeah, I had some satisfaction in pulling away.”
After his Hairspray co-star reminded him she’s blonde Efron quickly added, “Not that I don’t like blondes. It’s all about character. And of course Brittany you’ve got that.”
Brittany Snow Analyzes Her Character: Calling Amber a brat is putting things mildly. “I think with my character I kind of wanted her to be just lost. She’s just misunderstood. She can’t help that she has this crazy mother who’s given her everything she ever wanted. And here this girl comes in that she just doesn’t understand, you know? And so I tried to play her definitely bratty but not evil like Michelle [Pfeiffer]. She’s got that covered. She did a good job.”
Working with John Travolta: Travolta cross-dresses in a fat suit as Tracy Turnblad’s mother in the film, a role which Divine played in the 1988 movie. Working with him was a lot of fun for the younger generation of actors. Snow recalls, “The first time I ever met him my boyfriend and I were just tangoing through the halls and goofing around. And we turned around while we were tangoing and walked right into John Travolta. He started signing. He’s like, ‘Don’t stop. Keep tangoing.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you are awesome.’ I was so embarrassed. But for the rest of the movie on he was always in his Edna costume so I didn’t get to really like see John. I kind of just started thinking of John Travolta as a woman because he did such a good job. I just kind of associated that. So now when I see him as John Travolta, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re not a woman. You’re actually John Travolta.’ It’s a little weird.”
Efron added, laughing, “I found myself asking advice of Edna Turnblad more than John Travolta.”
High School Musical 2 and the Status of High School Musical 3: Efron provided an update on what’s happening in the High School Musical world. “We finished filming High School Musical 2. High School Musical 3, there’s talks. But it hasn’t really come to the actors yet.”
What can fans expect with High School Musical 2? “To change it up it’s summer vacation and all of the kids that are at East High, we get jobs – summer jobs – at Sharpay’s father’s country club,” revealed Efron. “She kind of rules the roost over there and we secretly come in and start making mischief. Fun and singing and dancing ensues.”
Efron says fans won’t be disappointed with the new music. “It’s good,” said Efron. “If you like the music from the first film, I think you’ll definitely enjoy it from the second one. We stuck to trying to bring new styles of music into musicals. Like, remember the last one we had like hip hop and like it was some salsa. In this one there’s Hawaiian music and all different types of genre.”
Up Next for Brittany Snow – Prom Night: Snows says production just wrapped on Prom Night. “It was a really great shoot. I mean, I was really lucky. I made some friends that I consider now my best friends. We had a great wrap party and caused a lot of trouble. And I never want to be in a prom dress ever again! And the girls in the movie – because we each had like six dresses – we’re each going to have a dress destruction party. Maybe not light a fire, but we’re definitely going to go crazy on the dresses because we had to wear them for three months. But it was really fun. It was a good time.”
Staying Out of the News: Efron does his best but realizes that there’s bound to be an article here or there about his personal life. “You know, it happens. It’s a part of what we do. Yeah, I’d like to consider myself somebody who’s not going to be in the tabloids that much. Aside from my acting and what I do, I don’t really get into the Hollywood scene. You won’t see me at clubs in LA. I’m not doing things that a 19-year-old in the US shouldn’t be doing. So I think that’s going to be pretty uninteresting for everyone. I just go home and go surfing and see my family. I don’t know. I don’t think you’ll see too much of me in the tabloids.”
