What's it really like kissing the one and only Zac Efron? According to several of the women he's shared romantic scenes with, he brings a new meaning to the term "watch your tongue."
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00:00What's it really like kissing the one and only Zac Efron? According to several of the
00:04women he's shared romantic scenes with, he brings a new meaning to the term watch-your-tongue.
00:10Ashley Tisdale made her name as an actor on the Disney Channel, first as the down-to-earth
00:14hotel employee Maddie on The Suite Life of Zac and Cody, and later as the theatrical
00:19antagonist Sharpay Evans in the High School Musical franchise. Although she shared more
00:23scenes with Zac Efron in High School Musical, they never kissed during the trilogy. The
00:27two actors only locked lips when Efron had a one-episode appearance on The Suite Life
00:32in 2006, the same year that High School Musical made him into an international teen heartthrob.
00:37You bleeding heart liberal! Establishment puppet! Do you want to kiss me as much as
00:40I want to kiss you? I'm surprised someone as smart as you would have to ask!
00:45That said, Tisdale described their on-screen kiss as awkward for a number of reasons. First
00:50of all, they were, and still are, close friends, seeing each other more like siblings than
00:54potential romantic partners. Nevertheless, his technique may not have been a perfect
00:58fit for the family-friendly show. As Tisdale explained,
01:01At the time, he was used to acting on, like, Warner Bros., which is CW, and we were on
01:05Disney Channel, and so he tried kissing me with his tongue, and I was like, get away
01:09from me. I closed my mouth so fast. I was like, this is Disney Channel. We don't kiss
01:13like that on Disney Channel.
01:15In the big-screen adaptation of the 1960s-era musical Hairspray, Nikki Blonsky stars as
01:20Tracy Turnblad, a teenage ball of energy who dreams of joining the Corny Collins Show
01:24as a dancer. Her on-screen beau is Zac Efron's Link Larkin, the headliner of the program
01:30who finds himself susceptible to her charms. Blonsky, who had never been in a major Hollywood
01:34production before, has fond memories of filming Hairspray with Efron, especially their romantic
01:39scenes. As she joked on the Women on Top podcast,
01:42"[Zac and I stood there for nine days. It was great. He is magic. He's a very talented
01:46man, all in all. He's got it all, what can I say?"
01:50Blonsky also shared what appears to be a recurring motif, which is Efron's use of tongue in otherwise
01:55kid-friendly kisses. She recalled,
01:56"'He slipped his tongue on me.' Adam Shankman, our director, called him on it. He's like,
02:01this is PG, there is no tongue."
02:04Back in the mid-2000s, Zac Efron was coming off of a string of hits, but they were Disney
02:08and he was eager to prove himself as an actor outside of the teenage bubble he had been
02:12in for years. In 2008, he took on a lead role in the period drama Me and Orson Welles, playing
02:18an aspiring actor in the 1930s who, despite still being in high school and having no professional
02:22experience, is cast in Orson Welles' legendary Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar.
02:28While working on the show, he becomes romantically involved with Orson Welles' production assistant
02:32Sonya, played by Claire Danes. Was it difficult for her to act opposite the teen star who
02:36was best known for his work on High School Musical at the time? Apparently not. Danes
02:41spoke highly of her time with Efron, saying in a press conference for the film,
02:44"'Being with Zac was amazing. I did a lot of mincing around the stage in this film.
02:49But the love scenes are really special, really tender. I was surprised by how easy it was
02:52to act with Zac, and I was really delighted to discover how fine an actor he is.'"
02:56"'How do I look?'
02:57"'Like a girl who's gonna give me one blindingly beautiful parting kiss.'"
03:05She also mentioned one area in which Efron's High School Musical skills served him well
03:09in the film — his dancing. She joked, with a smile,
03:12"'He can move very, very well.'"
03:15In yet another memorable movie musical performance, Zac Efron played playwright Philip Carlyle
03:19in the 2017 historical spectacle The Greatest Showman. In his supporting role, Efron teams
03:24up with Hugh Jackman's P.T. Barnum to save the circus. But more importantly, he develops
03:29a romantic relationship with Anne Wheeler, a trapeze artist played by his fellow former
03:33Disney Channel star Zendaya. Off-set, romance wasn't exactly in the air between Zendaya
03:39and Efron. Still, Zendaya spoke positively about her experience working with the actor
03:43and the significance of the kiss their characters share in a red carpet interview at the premiere
03:47of The Greatest Showman, explaining,
03:49"'It's not a normal kiss. These two characters have gone through so much, and this kiss symbolizes
03:53a lot more than just kissing someone. In the context of the movie, it's very brave and
03:58honestly dangerous. There's something special about it in that way.'"
04:02The Iron Claw isn't so much about romance as it is about the bonds between brothers,
04:06but Zac Efron's character in the film, real-life pro wrestler Kevin Von Erich, still has a
04:10love interest. Lily James plays Pam Adkisson, who brings warmth and compassion into Kevin's
04:16life, giving him the chance to finally face his vulnerabilities after dealing with a lifetime
04:20of his father's toxic views of masculinity. On Today with Hoda and Jenna, James described
04:25her experiences filming with Efron, particularly in their more personal moments on screen,
04:30in an extremely positive light, saying,
04:32"'He's just the greatest. We got to have such intimate, sweet scenes where he's falling
04:36in love and he's kind of opening up to this whole other side of himself.'"
04:39She went on to further praise his effort in The Iron Claw, noting that he not only had
04:43to nail their quieter romantic scenes, but also transform himself into a professional
04:47wrestler and embrace the larger-than-life bravado that goes along with it.