Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Zac Efron has spent the majority of the pandemic in Australia and of course, you couldn’t expect the man to do nothing while he was here (even though we’re sure he could afford to).
Working with streaming platform Stan, the High School Musical star filmed Gold, alongside an all-star cast featuring Susie Porter and Anthony Hayes.
Premiering on Australia Day on Stan and select cinemas from January 13, the first trailer for the blockbuster film has been released and it looks gripping. Set in the South Australian desert, Gold is a thriller about greed and the lengths people would go for money.
Battling the heat of the Australian outback, this may be the 34-year-old’s most challenging role yet. The story revolves around two drifters who, while travelling through the desert, stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found. The discovery not only leads to immense greed but a story of survival.
The pair put their heads together to think of a plan, which sees one man leave to find the necessary equipment to pull the nugget out of the earth, and the other (Efron), to remain while enduring harsh weather, wild dogs and mysterious intruders.
Viewers will be told a story about just how much a person is willing to take when it comes to wealth.
“When I read the script, I was really struck by how different it was and how little dialogue there was. I genuinely fell in love with it, imagining this person that we don’t really know, make very complex choices throughout the movie, and sort of adapt and, and try to survive,” Efron told Stan about taking on the role.
“It reminded me of an old Western in, in some ways, it had a very classic movie feel to it. There’s not too much talking, and we never really find out too much about the character. It leaves a lot open to the audience to interpret, which I loved. It’s a very complex and intelligent piece of work.”
The movie, which was filmed in the middle of summer in the Australian outback, was extremely difficult for the actor, saying it was “one of the hardest filming conditions” he’s ever been in.
“The elements were brutal. The heat is non-stop. The sun is scorching. The ground is unbelievably hot and just reflects all the light-up into you. Then there were other challenges — for instance, we had massive dust storms that luckily kind of found their way into the movie,” he said.
Gold premieres on January 26 on Stan.
