Zac Efron has responded to Matthew Perry's wish for him to portray the late Friends star in a potential biopic.
Speaking to ExtraTV on Wednesday the 36-year-old expressed that he was "hugely honored" upon hearing the revelation of the Perry's casting choice.
"It would be extraordinary to do," he continued, before adding: "I'm still devastated by the fact that he is gone."
The dynamic duo starred alongside each other in the 2009 comedy 17 Again, which sees Efron play the young version of Perry as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity sees him transported to high school in the hopes that he could re-do his life over again.
While the movie received a pretty good reaction at the time, scoring an above-average score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes' critic rating as well as 67%% on its audience rating, over time, it became a movie that continued to entertain audiences even in 2023.
Speaking of his quality time with the former Friends star, the High School Musical alum told Access Hollywood that his "fondest memories" of the actor involve their time together on the set of 17 Again.
"Matthew's been a mentor for me," he noted. "Since we worked together on 17 Again years ago, he taught me so much. I idolized that guy, and the fact that he's gone now is devastating. But I did hear that he was thinking of me for potentially playing him for the future and that's the biggest honor one can have."
The star confirmed that there was "nothing officially" in the pipeline yet, but he added that he would totally be up for it if it were to happen.
Not only did he want Efron to play him in this potential project, but last year, when speaking to Jessica Shaw about a rom-com screenplay that he'd written, he hoped that the 36-year-old would also be up for the lead role.
Unfortunately, though, he turned it down at the time.
"I have a small part in it. I wrote it for myself and then realized I'm 20 years too old to play this. So we're trying to cast the leads now," he said, adding that he offered the role to Efron, who ultimately turned it down. "He said no, so we've got to find someone who says yes," Perry said.
The news comes after Athena Crosby, who went to dinner with Perry just a day before his tragic death on October 28, revealed that the actor had talked about his plans to make a biopic.
"He said that he wanted to make a movie about his life," Crosby told ET Canada. "He said that he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version [of himself] and that he was gonna ask him soon to do that. He was just looking forward to sharing more about his story and his recovery from addiction, and really championing that cause to help more people, so he was so optimistic and happy about everything that he wanted to do."
The 25-year-old model also told the Daily Mail that the two had talked about Perry's motivation to "revamp" his life.
"I think he was really serious about revamping himself into a whole new man," she said before adding: "He wanted to start his foundation to help people struggling with substance abuse, whether alcohol or drug addiction.
"He also really wanted to have a movie made about his life. He was an actor and he wanted to get back into it," she said of their final conversation.
Let's hope someone does make Perry's dream come to life and a visual autobiography is in the pipeline!
