Zac Efron starring in dual roles in A24’s Famous

Zac Efron will appear as a Hollywood star and his overly enthusiastic fan in Jody Hill’s Famous. More on the film below. 

Zac Efron is collaborating with A24 once again after the success of Sean Durkin’s wrestling biopic The Iron Claw. As reported by Deadline, A24 has acquired the distribution rights to Jody Hill’s upcoming thriller Famous, in which Efron will star in two roles. 

Efron is set to play James Janse, a Hollywood star, as well as his manic fan Lance Dunkquist. The film is based on Blake Crouch’s acclaimed novel and adapted for the screen by Chad Hodge. 

Here’s Deadline’s summary of the premise: “The story follows Dunkquist, who has one asset that’s about to change his life – he has the face of a movie star. And not just any movie star – Lance is the spitting image of a Hollywood icon, James Jansen. Lance is about to travel to Los Angeles to make his dream come true. Lance is going to be famous, no matter what it takes.”

Efron is on a roll after earning himself the strongest reviews of his career for his sensitive performance as Kevin Von Erich in The Iron Claw. The film was largely overlooked by awards bodies, but it made A24 a lot of cash and has become one of Max’s most watched titles since its debut on the service in May. 

Efron can also currently be seen in Netflix’s A Family Affair in which Efron’s movie star begins a steamy romance with his employee’s mother. Efron has also been attached in the Three Men And A Baby reboot since 2020 but the project hasn’t had any movement for a while now. There were also rumours that Efron would star in Ti West’s next film, but we’re waiting for more concrete details on that. 

A24 will distribute Famous in the US, though there’s currently no word on who might land the film in the UK. A24 has distributed several titles on these shores, but Black Bear is handling international sales, so they might just do it themselves. We’ll keep you updated on that.