Despite all the fame and fortune that came with Zac Efron’s time in the “High School Musical” franchise, it wasn’t all rosy. As mentioned throughout, his performance as Troy Bolton defined him. It influenced everyone’s perspective of him and caused him issues when he tried to audition for other roles. At one point, it led him to despise Troy, and he belted out his frustrations during a 2021 interview with Men’s Journal.
“The second we finished the first one … I was, like, 17,” said Efron. “And I said, ‘Guys, you know this is not at all what I want to do?’ And they were like, ‘Really?'” He then went deeper into his disdain for Troy, which left him regretful and annoyed about the role years later.
“I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s a** sometimes,” said Efron. “Like, f*** that guy. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people, he did that one thing [‘Neighbors’] that was funny, but I mean he’s still just that f***ing kid from [‘High School Musical’].” Thankfully, Efron has embraced his time as Troy and even said that he’d be willing to reprise the role for a “High School Musical” reboot.
