Preparing for fatherhoodZac EfronHe plays a dad, in his new movie. Firestarter, and the role made him realize that he isn’t quite ready for kids yet.
On Wednesday, May 11, he made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe actor, aged 34, explained that the role he plays is that of a father to a 11-year old girl (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) with supernatural powers. When host Ellen DeGeneresEfron became confused when asked if the role made it easier to be a parent.
“Uh, it’s — I — you know what? I think that was a healthy dose to put me off of it for as long as necessary,” the BaywatchStar revealed. “I have a bit more growing to do, probably. I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t know what to say now.”
California gave his mother a shout-out. Starla Baskett, who was present in the audience. “I have a healthy respect for parents, very grateful for them all. I love you so much mom,” he said.
Zac Efron. Larry Marano/Shutterstock
Efron signed up for the remake 1984 Stephen King movie, he didn’t fully consider that he had no idea what it was like to be a dad. “I didn’t think about it all that much,” Efron said of playing a father for the first time.
He quickly realized that even pretend parenthood isn’t easy.
“It was a pretty quick intro to the film — and all the sudden I had this daughter,” the Greatest Showman star recalled. “We had a pretty heavy dad-daughter scene right off the bat [when filming started]I realized that I was severely underprepared for this section. I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought it would just kind of click, but no, that’s not really the case.”
Though fatherly intuition didn’t magically appear, he managed to get close with the American Horror Story alum, 12. “Luckily, Ryan is just so sweet. She’s just the coolest and after two days we just had the best bond,” he said.
Efron might have hoped to find a long-term partner before becoming a parent. Efron split with his ex-wife in April 2021. Vanessa ValladaresAfter 10 months of filming, a waitress from Australia, pictured after completing the filming Firestarter, and a source exclusive to Us WeeklyAt the time, the reason for the breakup was due to scheduling conflicts.
“Zac is about to start a busy year of filming and wanted to make a clean break now,” the insider said. “Zac is secretly relieved about this turn of events as he feels she would be a distraction to him during the filming of the intense drama.”
FirestarterPeacock Friday, May 13: In theaters
