Zac Efron, who’s found fame starring in the Disney Channel’s massive US TV hit High School Musical, has nabbed a role in Hairspray.
Director Adam Shankman, apparently the last person in the States to hear of the TV drama comedy, has signed him to play Link, the hunk at the centre of Hairspray’s Corny Collins Show.
"I had no idea this Disney Channel musical was such a publicity juggernaut, but it became clear to me when I was told Zac would miss rehearsals when High School Musical is launched in Europe, and Queen Elizabeth II requested an audience with him,” Shankman told Variety. "I was a bit dismissive, because that film is pure Disney, and I told him I needed a more subversive energy. He worked on it and he gave it to me."
Hairspray plans to start shooting in September.