++ Zac Efron Sheds Teen Image

If you're like millions of young fans of "Hairspray" or the "High School Musical" franchise, you probably think Zac Efron is just about the epitome of cool.

Wait'll you get a load of his dad, the 20-year-old megastar joked with MTV News from the set of his newest film, "Seventeen Again" (formerly called just "Seventeen"), in which he plays a middle-age man suddenly transported back to his teenage years.

"Everything you do, you have to kind of view it from your dad's perspective," Efron said, revealing how he got in the head of an adult for the role. "I tried to do a few things that I learned from my dad - things that he thinks are cool but are really dorky.

"That seems to be working pretty well," he laughed.

It's seemingly all laughs these days for Efron, now that he's beginning to shed his teenage image for more grown-up films.

Playing the young Mike O'Donnell - who gets his wish for a chance to go back to high school and redo his life - is the perfect way for Efron to transition from tween heartthrob to adult thesp in flicks like "Me and Orson Welles." This is especially true given that the character offers him a shot at growing up without the side-effects of actually, you know, growing up, Efron teased.

"I could have gone out and just played a kid somewhere and had a blast. But now I'm playing a 40-year-old guy," he said. "It's kind of fun playing an adult."

It's a mantle he wears comfortably. Indeed, the day we visited with Efron we found him in a house only an adult could think of as fun, where hundreds of "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" toys stood behind glass, boxed for eternity to accumulate value. Think the collection in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Now think of the collection from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" times 10.

"This is my best friend's house," Efron explained, standing in front of a giant stormtrooper. "He was a nerd his whole life. His house is a big clue to that."

In one scene, wearing a V-neck T-shirt and a red plaid shirt, Efron's character haughtily navigates his way through a gathered crowd, dismissing an approaching girl, passing a beer to a friend and even proving that there's a way to act cynical while twirling a light saber.

But, then, this isn't surprising when you know that, before he was Zac Efron, Mike O'Donnell was Matthew Perry.

"Matthew has a very dry sense of humor," Efron understated. "I guess if there was anything I had to work on, it was probably [emulating] that."

Ironically, given that it's practically his trademark, Efron admitted that the other thing he had to work particularly hard at for the movie was a dance sequence. "High School Musical" or no, turns out the kids just don't move like they used to.

"It's all '80s dance moves, and it's completely random," Efron said, referring to a scene in which he dances with a bunch of cheerleaders. "The running man, a few moves from MC Hammer - what is it, 'Can't Touch This,' right? Yeah, it's pretty funny."

But don't be fooled by the dance number, the actor insisted. Zac Efron may star in the movie, but he has no desire ever to be "Seventeen Again."

"What would I do if I could go back to high school?" Efron asked, grinning. "I never want to go back."

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

An interview with Zac Efron

[Source: MTV News]

++ Zac Efron Gets Serious For 'Orson Welles And Me'

Zac Efron isn't graduating from East High until May, but the 20-year-old star is already enrolled in a masters program for continued education... from none other than the director of "Citizen Kane."

"I leave for London in a few days," Efron excitedly revealed of his schedule for "Orson Welles and Me," a new movie in which he will play a teen who gets caught up in the rise of Wells' Mercury Theater. "He gets swept into this amazing adventure and in a way becomes Orson Welles' protégé. It's just a very, very fun coming-of-age story."

It's a story that somewhat mirrors Efron's own meteoric rise through super-stardom, from teen heartthrob in the popular but "cheesy" "High School Musical" series, to what he hopes will be a career as a more serious actor, he revealed.

"It's a completely different project than I've ever done before," Efron teased. "Gosh, I would say, that's the main reason I'm looking forward to doing [it]. It's just a side I've never really shown before. I think it's going to be a lot of color in this movie. A lot of things you haven't seen before, hopefully. I'm crossing my fingers, anyway."

But while Efron will soon sit at the feet of one of cinema's greatest ever artists (or, at least a reasonable facsimile, anyway), the boy who sent a thousand teenage hearts a twitter says the person he'd really like to get career advice from isn't actually that much older. Remember when the King of the World had pimples?

"I think someone who's made very wise choices is Leonardo DiCaprio. He's kind of my definition of teen star because when I was growing up his face was everywhere," Efron gushed. "I think since then he's developed an incredible body of work. If there's anyone I'd like to emulate it's him."

[Source: MTV]

GIG Scheds of different bands this month of February..

Spongecola
09- Yael- Game ka na ba? Guesting; Chowking event @ SM Lucena,8pm
13- UP Fair
15- OLCA Taal, Batangas,6pm
16- College of the Immaculate Conception, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija
18- 70’s Bistro
23- Tunog Kalye,103.5 MAX,5pm; Tree House Productions 19 East
24- SM Southmall
26- Tagum City, Davao
28- PSBA Manila,8pm
29- SM SantaRosa676; Bluewave

Moonstar 88
11 – UP Fair
12 – UP Fair
14 - UP Fair
16 – UP Fair
20 – Radio Tour
21 – Club Dredd Libis QC
22 – Café Saguijo Mkti City / Hardrock Café Mkti City
29 – Off the Grill

Imago
09 - Saguijo (Play 4 Serve)
11 - UP Fair 8:30PM
12 - UP Fair 8:15 PM
14 - UP Fair
16 - SM Megamall (Phil Star Job Fair)RTU Mandaluyong; Sacred Heart Novaliches
23 - Rosario Sports Arena, Rosario Pasig

Chicosci
09 - UST
11 - UP Sunken Garden, UP Diliman
12 - UP Sunken Garden, UP Diliman

Hale
9- San Fernando Pampanga
12- Lovapalooza
17- Manresa,4pm; St Loius Valenzuela,8pm

Itchyworms
11- UP Fair
12- UP Fair
13- UP Fair
14- RJ Bar Underground Radio
16- Canosa Covered Courts, San Pablo Laguna; UP Fair
22- UE Recto MAX FM Event
23- Baguio KLITE Event
25- 70s Bistro
26- Mayric’s
28- Cabanatuan (TENTATIVE)
29- Blue Wave Macapagal MAXFM Event

Chris-Phillip of Spring Waltz!!!

Spring Waltz is the fourth and final installment of Yoon Suk-ho's seasonal drama series, Endless Love - following Autumn Fairy Tale, Winter Sonata and Summer Scent. It is a 20-episode Korean television miniseries.

The story succeeded with Arianne’s plane ride to Austria, where she happens to sit next to Song Ina, who is on her way to meet her childhood love, Chris. However, Chris, who has now grown up to be a young, accomplished pianist in Austria, does not seem pleased with meeting Ina again after 15 years of separation. Arianne, on the other hand, excited about her first overseas trip, bumps into Phillip (Chris’s manager and best friend), who mistook her as Ina whom he was suppose to pick up at the airport. The four meet in different turns of circumstances and incidents, as the story of love, fate and destiny begins to swirl.

Seo Do-young as Yoon Jae-ha (Christian Y.)

Jaeha is a talented classical pianist of the next generation who has been closely watched with deep interests and concerns by Koreans since he won a prize in a famous concert. Even though he was brought up in a rich and enviable family under his father who is a foreign diplomat, Jaeha is a lonely person having only one friend because of his eccentric and particular personality. He is a well-mannered and dutiful son to his parents and never harms others, but his piano melody always sounds sad. He is hidden in a veil showing his true feelings only to his best friend and manager, Phillip. He is a sad person keeping the secrets of the past that nobody knows although he has a charismatic personality and wonderful environment.

Daniel Henney as Phillip

He is the only friend as well as the global manager of Yoon Jaeha. He was born to Austrian father and Korean mother and was expected to become a promising musician during his childhood. He plays the piano, the cello, the guitar, etc. Even though there are no musical instruments that he cannot play, he gave up playing music instruments. Instead, he decided to pursue his dream of a musician by becoming the manager of Jaeha who Phillip acknowledges as being a true musical genius. He is not only a considerate and warmhearted person who kindly understands Jae-Ha’s fretful personality but also is a romantic. Phillip is in love with Eun-young and despite knowing that she loves Jaeha, he chooses to stay by her side.

Christopher Gutierrez follows Lola Gloria's footsteps

One of Star Magic's newest addition to its roster of talents is remarkable not only because of his boyish charm but also because he is descended from a renowned actress. Aspiring actor Christopher Gutierrez is the only grandson of Gloria Romero and the late actor Juancho Gutierrez by their daughter Maritess.

"Last year, they [ABS-CBN] wanted kids for Star Circle Batch 13. So they asked my Lola [Gloria] if I could join. I said: ‘Yeah I'll try [it],'" recounts Chris (Christopher's nickname) in an interview with YES! Online last November 2 during Star Magic's pictorial at the ABS-CBN compound.

Entering showbiz wasn't exactly on this young boy's agenda, although he has been appearing on several ABS-CBN shows such as ASAP and Komiks. However, the glitz and glamour of the showbiz industry seemed too enticing to resist.

"I'm the type of person who likes to try everything. I'll try everything once," proclaims the 14-year-old boy.

Even though Lola Gloria approves of his newest endeavor, Chris is bound to follow her ultimate rule. He shares: "She supported [my decision to enter showbiz] basta my grades remain high."

Education is a top priority for this first year high school student of La Salle Greenhills. In fact, Chris is a consistent honor student and is now ranked fourth in his class.

Despite being related to an award-winning actress, Chris manages to keep his feet on the ground and claims that he is not the typical spoiled brat. He points out that his grandmother splurges "when it comes to food and clothes—only the necessities."

At his young age, Chris towers over his peers with his height of 5'7" and, believe it or not, he lists cooking as one of his special talents.

He also admits that he still needs to hone his talents and carve a name for himself in the entertainment scene.

According to Chris, all he wants is to make Lola Gloria proud of him, which is why he is willing to give the showbiz industry his best shot.

http://telebisyon.net/balita/Christopher-Gutierrez-follows-Lola-Glorias-footsteps/artikulo/1125/

Suggestions, Comments, Questions...

Hey guys! Thanks for the comment/s!

About Cody Linley? Include him in the poll? Okay, wish is granted but we'll gonna make another poll for that. I mean, we'll just update it later. So for now, pls continue voting on the poll we have in this blog and maybe next time we can already update the poll.

You can also suggest other male celebrities whom you find hot or cute...whatever...that you wish to be included also in the poll. We can also make them as our topics. So what are you still waiting for? It's time now to help make your fave male clelebrities or crush celebrities shine and become popular! Let other people know them. We'll just wait for your respond/s regarding with this topic.

Take care everyone! God bless!

By the way, here are some photos of Cody. Hope you'll like and enjoy it.

TOM FLETCHER

Tom Fletcher here..hehe, he's not included in the poll but we just wanna post a topic of him here. We would like to introduce to you guys, Tom Fletcher, the bandmate of Dougie Poynter in McFly. That's all.lol *laughs*

Set Visit: Zac Efron's Seventeen Again

Plucked from the "High School Musical" group, Zac Efron has emerged as one of the biggest actors in Hollywood right now.

And it's his work in Hairspray with Adam Shankman that he's getting even a larger teen-icon status. That's because before they were even done shooting that movie, Adam decided to develop another movie specifically for Zac – Seventeen Again.

It's sort of a reversed idea of Big; this time, Matthew Perry is playing the adult, and Zac plays the younger version. After going through a bit of a depression, and nearly ending his marriage to Leslie Mann, Matthew finds himself transformed into his younger self. As Zac, he goes back to high school, and realizes his life wasn't that bad.

ComingSoon.net was on the set of the new teen flick, directed by Burr Steers. We had the chance to speak to producers Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot (of Offspring Entertainment), as well as Zac to find out what it's been like shooting the teen flick.

It was actually during the last few days on Hairspray that Adam and Jennifer realized they weren't quite ready to end that relationship with Zac. "While we were doing 'Hairspray,' everyone was aware of what a phenomenon Zac was sort of becoming. [Jennifer] sort of thought I would love to come up with another something for him, and she talked to me about these ideas; she went out to a couple writers, and it was literally pitched to her. They went out and they sold it with Zac attached, and New Line bought it, and now we're finishing."

But it doesn't take a genius to figure out what star-power Zac brings to the big screen. Adam added, "He's really maturing and he's growing, and he's so solid in the movie. I've seen a bunch of it cut together, and I'm relieved, and I'm so excited to be able to kind of be a part of representing him. I feel like I've been in the Zac business for a while, and representing him in a different light outside of the 'High School' triumphant. And he's just really good, and he really came alive with all these other actors like Leslie Mann and Thomas Lennon. It's really funny because Matthew Perry plays him old, and so he had to go to the Matthew Perry School of World Weariness in order to convincingly be this guy. And he does these things that are like Matthew, and it just killed me; he's a very detailed actor."

Because this was developed for him, Zac said it was a lot different than many of his other projects. "Adam mentioned the overall concept to me while we were up in Toronto when we were doing 'Hairspray.' I just kind of said, 'Yeah.' Little did I know that it would actually turn into a script and become a full production. It was amazing to watch something really come to fruition."

Getting a chance to play a younger Matthew Perry was a pretty cool experience for Zac. "It's fun, it's weird, it's almost like a split personality. He's got a few mannerisms that I had to incorporate. I try not to do too much of it, but it's the little moments. I think people really do grow different as they get older, and what I wanted to play a lot with this character was watching a lot of the youth come out of him."

And according to both Jennifer and Adam, he's able to hang with the pros when it comes to improvisation. "Absolutely, and he's working with Leslie Mann and Tom Lennon, who are some of the best ad-libbers out there," says Adam.

"And they're loving working with him. He is rising to the occasion," Jennifer pointed out. "He's really funny, he's really funny."

It's also the challenges of going back to high school for Zac's character – the popular kids versus the geeks, and of course, his realizations 2008 versus 1989. "Oh, let me tell you those challenges," Jennifer jokes to us. "Just the evils of trying to fit in; there's obviously the cliques and the bullies. Another big thing that he goes through is how much more aggressive women are, girls have become. And so what he does have his make-over, he shows up as 'hot Zac.' And he says, 'Wow, girls in 2008 put it out there.' And I think he's very accurate. A big running joke in the movie is he goes to school for the first time in (all Ed Hardy stuff). Kind of an over-exaggerated adult view of what teenagers wear. Kids tell him he looks like K-Fed. And then he gets bullied by his daughter's boyfriend 'cause he's the new kid. And then he realizes that his son is actually a victim of the bullying more than anyone, and he wants to help him keep the bullies away.

Adam also says Zac is dealing with the pain of not being able to tell his wife. "He loves her still, and doesn't want to get divorced. And her thinking he's a high school kid, and there's always that joke of 'that's really inappropriate. You can't touch me like that.'"

Fans who know Thomas Lennon are going to see a different side to him as well. He won't be showing off his cop-stash, like his character on "Reno 911." "Just because he's not swearing or wearing a cod piece and shorts, and all of that, he's still biting and subversive as always," notes Adam. "And he raises the comedy bar of this movie out of control. The things that he does, they're sick. He has a relationship with Melora Hardin, who plays the principal, and there's a scene – she finds him repellent, and there's a scene where they end up connecting over 'Lord of the Rings.' And there's a date that they go on, where all they do is speak Elvish, and that turns her on. They're sitting down for dinner and drinking wine and speaking Elvish."

That comic timing also goes for Matthew, who has a history with Adam. "He was our first name on the list. I had a long relationship; I used to be the choreographer on 'Friends,' so I've known Matthew for a long time. He's been so incredible, and he's so good in the movie. There's so much sophistication that he actually brings to this that separates itself from other teen genre movies. This is a movie that is going to hit teens, but definitely hits adults; it's very expansive thematically. Because it's actually about an adult who's sick of his life 'cause it hasn't turned out the way he wanted it to, so he goes back. And he realizes 'there's no place like home' and he also ends up helping his kids. So it's actually a pretty adult movie. Leslie Mann plays his wife, and it's all crazy."

And there's definitely more craziness to come with Seventeen Again. It opens in theaters in August.

Steve Chupnick
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=41510

January 31, 2008