Zac Efronwas one of the great young stars of Hollywood in the early 00s, but some of his roles left dark and disturbing marks on his personal life, such as his participation in 2017’sBaywatch.
After starring in the Disney Channel hitHigh School Musicalin 2006, Efron’s career took off, and he continued to showcase his acting skills in projects likeHairsprayand17 Again, taking advantage of his soaring popularity. In 2017, he joined Dwayne Johnson and a great cast of popular actors inBaywatch, a film based on the successful series that originally debuted in 1989 and ran for 11 seasons.
Baywatch did not particularly fare well, gaining only a 17% Rotten Tomaotes score, but certainly did not do any harm to Efron’s career. However, behind the scenes was a very different story, and working on the movie saw the actor entering a very difficult period in his life. Speaking previously toMen’s Health, the actor recalled how his rigorous workout routine forBaywatchaffected his mental and physical health:
“That Baywatch look, I don’t know if that’s really attainable. There’s just too little water in the skin. Like, it’s fake; it looks CGI’d. And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve. So I don’t need to do that. I much prefer to have an extra, you know, 2 to 3 percent body fat. I started to develop insomnia, and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time recentering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up.”
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Could Zac Efron Enter the Best Actor Oscar Race?
Efron may have had to train hard for his role inBaywatch, but it doesn’t compare tothe actor’s physical transformationfor his latest film,The Iron Claw. Sean Durkin’s movie tells the story of the Von Erich clan, one of the most famous and legendary families in the world of wrestling, surrounded by tragic deaths. Efron plays Kevin, the only surviving child in the family,in a moving and truly emotional performance, which has generated many rumors about a possible nomination at the next Academy Awards ceremony.
Of course, the competition in the Best Actor category will be as brutal as some ofThe Iron Claw’s fight scenes, with actors like Cillian Murphy forOppenheimer, Joaquin Phoenix forNapoleonand Bradley Cooper forMaestrobeing the great candidates to win the statuette.
But theHigh School Musicalstar undoubtedly deserves the same recognition for his work inThe Iron Claw, and his successful career in the world of cinema, which also includes other notable projects such asThe Greatest ShowmanandExtremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, where he played killer Ted Bundy.
As for his future, next year he will release the romantic comedyA Family Affair, in which he stars alongside Joey King, Nicole Kidman, Liza Koshy, and Kathy Bates. He is also set to star inRicky Stanicky, a fantasy comedy along with John Cena.
