Zac Efron and others (with much less attractive hair, which is whey they were not included in the photos) were on hand at Vue Cinema in London, England last night for the UK premiere of his new film Me and Orson Welles which tells the tale of a young man’s overnight success which stemmed from working with Welles in a small production of Julius Ceasar in 1937. Me and Orson Welles is only Zac‘s second film since graduating from the High School Musical films … and it seems as if the lad has gone from boy to man almost instantly:

U.S. actor Zac Efron takes another step away from the world of high school musicals that made him famous with a part in “Me and Orson Welles,” which also features British newcomer Christian McKay in the title role. In the movie, which hits British theatres on December 4, 22-year-old Efron plays a teenaged student who fortuitously stumbles into a minor role in the 1937 Mercury Theater production of “Julius Caesar” directed by the young Welles. During one tumultuous week, he makes his Broadway debut, finds romance with an ambitious older woman and dares to cross the overbearing Welles in a coming-of-age tale. The film is Efron’s second release since he graduated from the successful “High School Musical” franchise which made him a teen idol, after he appeared in “17 Again” which came out in April. “I’m definitely sad to see the end of it (High School Musical), but I think it’s all about progression and growing and trying new things,” Efron told Reuters on the red carpet of the new movie’s European premiere in London late on Wednesday. “This is definitely the next step in that journey for me,” he added against a noisy backdrop of dozens of screaming fans. “I can’t wait for everybody to see this movie and hear their thoughts. Hopefully they can learn something from the film, a little bit about Orson Welles, the history of Broadway. It’s pretty fascinating, it’s a fun film.” For McKay, being chosen by director Richard Linklater to play the larger-than-life Welles came as a surprise. “We did an old-fashioned screen test together and he (Linklater) never watched it. He was convinced,” he said of the casting process. “It would have been much easier to cast a famous star, and when I first met him and he started talking to me about Orson I gave him a list of famous Hollywood stars who could play him. It would’ve much easier for Richard to have chosen one of them. He would have gotten the funding easier … but he stuck with me and that tells you something about the man.” Linklater, known as a maker of cult films like “Dazed and Confused” and “A Scanner Darkly” but also with a Hollywood hit under his belt with “School of Rock,” said he chose Efron for his charisma on screen rather than his star power. When asked if he feared Efron might overshadow the rest of the cast and the movie itself, he replied: “Not really. I didn’t really think about it that way. Selfishly, as a director I wanted to find the best actor I could, someone who could go toe to toe with Orson Welles which is pretty hard to do. Welles is one of the bigger personalities in the last couple of centuries, so I needed someone with that kind of charisma, with that leading man … and Zac had that.”

While I admit that I am suspicious of Efron‘s ability to act his way out of a paper bag I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’ve been so impressed with Daniel Radcliffe‘s acting abilities outside of the Harry Potter films that I’m willing to believe (well, hope) that there can be a young US actor with the same talent. After Me and Orson Welles opens in theaters Efron has another dramatic film on the way, Charlie St. Cloud. It would seem that Zac Efron is trying to move towards a more substantial film career … and I’m very curious to see if he can pull it off. After all, a guy with hair that great (and, let’s be honest, he’s got a better head of hair than even Robert Pattinson has) has got to be in movies. It’d be wonderful if Zac can prove to the world that he’s also got the acting ability to go with his movie star good looks.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]

Robert Downey, Jr. is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly in order to promote his new Guy Ritchie-directed film Sherlock Holmes (due out in theaters on Xmas day). In his coverstory interview, RDJ talks about working on Sherlock and also talks a lot about his future plans … which don’t necessarily include acting anymore:

This week’s Entertainment Weekly takes a look at the martial-arts-filled new action movie Sherlock Holmes, a literary giant that Robert Downey Jr. and director Guy Ritchie are trying to make young again. As the star of the film, Downey has had time to hone his own deductive powers. When he stepped into the role of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Baker Street detective, Downey, along with British director Guy Ritchie was determined to give the iconic crime-fighter a unique stamp. Downey knows the stakes are high – he was cast hot off Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. At the time, he cheekily said of Holmes, “Clearly I’m going to do it better than it’s ever been done.” Today he’s a little more circumspect. “Holmes is a huge iconic character, and this is a really big movie.” He shrugs. “I’m just a guy.” Despite all the bells and whistles of a nearly $100 million budget, the makers of Sherlock Holmes insist their film is faithful to the detective’s roots as a supersleuth. “People think the movie is going to be, like, this modern punk-rock version where we’re all wearing high-tops,” says Jude Law, who stars as Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson. “It’s actually more true to the books than they’re guessing.” Ritchie, who listened to recordings of Holmes stories at his English boarding school as a boy, instantly saw the appeal of the project. “I loved the idea of an intellectual action hero,” says the director. At first, he wanted to relaunch Holmes with an origin story, but once Downey expressed interst, Ritchie fell in love with the idea of setting the actor loose in the criminal underwold of Victorian London. “It seems impossible now that anybody other than Rob could have played him,” Ritchie says. “He thinks like Sherlock Holmes, he’s complicated like Sherlock Holmes, and he can really brawl.” In the end Downey says portraying Holmes was as much an act of make-believe as playing a guy in a metal suit. “I’m very intuitive,” he says. “But playing Holmes, sometimes I’m just standing there trying to hopefully appear smarter than I am.” He laughs. “Some of it is really basic: You pick a point and just look at it and say what you’re saying – because what you’re saying is smarter shit than most people say.” Shooting on the London set was rather collision-free, but the biggest drama took place off the set, as Ritchie’s divorce from Madonna made headlines. Downey says Ritchie did his best to tune out the distractions. “Guy is a country gentleman,” he says. “He doesn’t want to occupy his mind with things that may be unpleasant or may get him riled up. He was just doing what he would have been doing regardless of the situation.” Ritchie describes his own way of dealing with the tabloid noise in four simple words: “Head down, arms swinging.” Ten years ago, Downey was bouncing in and out of jail and rehab, but now he reflects on the improbable spot he’s currently in – with Iron Man 2 set for release next May, a new comedy by the director of The Hangover, and a possible second major franchise with Holmes. “I have no set plans for my future,” Downey says. “I’ve never had it this good – this is my day in the sun – and I certainly don’t want to look a gift horse in the molars. But Susan [Downey, his wife] and I want to begin to be in our lives as much as we are in our jobs. I’d love just to sit here and say, ‘What movie’s playing tonight?’ I’d love to finish the new book about D-Day I’m reading. I love painting, I love music.” Sometimes, he says, he asks himself whether he even wants to keep acting. “I’m fucking really good at what I do – and have been for a long time, so I don’t waver on that,” he says. “But here’s the thing: I can only be a guy on a call sheet probably, I don’t know, maybe a couple more times. It’s something I’m so grateful to have in my palm, and yet I already see its inevitable decay.”

I cannot WAIT for this movie to come out. Ever since it was announced that RDJ would be playing Sherlock Holmes I’ve been counting down the days ’til the film’s release. I totally agree, I don’t think anyone else acting today could be called upon to play Sherlock as well as RDJ. He has a certain je ne sais quoi that lends itself to these types of movies … he has a comic timing that is pitch perfect and he really does have the acting chops to bring iconic characters to life as seemingly “regular” people. As for the fact that he may quit acting soon? Well, I’m not too worried about that. RDJ only takes on films that he knows he will do well … I contend that if more of those movie offers come his way, he’ll do them. He’s too good an actor to retire for good … I’m sure of it. As I mentioned above, Sherlock Holmes opens on December 25 … who’s excited with me?

[Source]

Gerard Butler pulled a little prank in Berlin, Germany this week in what appears to be an homage to the late Michael Jackson. As you can see from the photos below, Butler wrapped up a potted plant in a hotel towel to make it look like a baby which he, then, dangled outside his hotel window above the street below … just like MJ did with his own son Prince Michael Joseph, II aka Blanket in his own hotel in Berlin many years ago:

Gerard Butler paid tribute to Michael Jackson yesterday by dangling a fake baby out the window of his London hotel room. Aw, remember when M.J. did that with a real baby in Berlin? Memories… Anyway, Gerry’s fake baby is actually a plant wrapped in a towel, and he looks a little too pleased with himself. You can just tell he’s high-fiving himself in his head for coming up with such an epically funny stunt that’s actually pretty lame. And that is what we find amusing.

Yeah … I dunno if Gerard was going for funny or if he was just lookin’ for attention but it seems so odd that he would do this. I, personally, think the joke would’ve been funnier if it had been executed while MJ was still alive … cuz, let’s be honest, MJ‘s decision to dangle his baby outside a hotel window was NOT one of the high points of his career. But now that MJ is gone, well, I don’t think the joke is funny anymore. That is not to say that I am offended by this little gag … it’s just … weird. What to y’all think … funny?

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Yesterday we got a sneak peek at Levi Johnston‘s upcoming pictorial in the pages of Playgirl magazine from The Insider and today we get to check out another sneak peek at the pics from both The Insider (again) and Entertainment Tonight … but we are also hearing from the lad himself. E! News‘s Marc Malkin spoke with Johnston at the GQ Men of the Year event at the Chateau Marmont here in SoCal last night and Levi admitted that he never intended to show full frontal nudity even tho he coyly hinted that he would when he was promoting the Playgirl photoshoot. Here are a few preview screencaps from Levi‘s shower photos along with his chat with Malkin last night:

Despite what Sarah Palin may think, Levi Johnston insists he’s not an aspiring porn star. And that’s exactly why we’re not going to be seeing all of Mr. Johnston’s junk in Playgirl. In fact, Johnston tells me he never had plans to go full frontal because… “I’m 19,” he told me at last night’s GQ Men of the Year party at the Chateau Marmont. “I don’t want that image. I don’t want to get into porn. I don’t want to get into X-rated adult videos.” Johnston says he’s seen some of the shots Playgirl is planning on releasing. “They turned out well,” he said. “I’m happy with them.” What do his friends back in Alaska think of all this? “I’m sure my friends are going to check them out and give me crap about them, but whatever,” Johnston said with a shrug. “I’m having fun with all of it.”

What a tease … I guess we had to be kidding ourselves if we really thought he was going to show us the full monty. Tho, to be honest, I don’t know that many of us (me, included) would’ve been so willing to believe that he was truly gonna go balls out (as it were) if we hadn’t been misled to believe that he was really gonna show all. It looks like we’re not gonna see much more than what we’ve been seeing in these censored preview photos that have been airing on entertainment news shows all week long. In case you’re still interested, you can check out photos from Entertainment Tonight of Johnston lying “secductively” on a bed for another part of his Playgirl photoshoot — after the jump …