Zac Efron Admits It Was Hard To Separate Himself From Ted Bundy During Filming

Zac EfronEfron has revealed he struggled to separate himself from his character, Ted Bundy, while filming Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

The actor confessed having trouble in letting go of the infamous serial killer when the cameras stopped rolling each day.

"I've never played a role in which I really have to separate myself from when I go home at night," he told red carpet reporters at the London premiere, "and it was almost impossible."

"I'd like to say that I did it successfully, but I couldn't," he added.

Efron went on to say how he never imagined himself playing the role of Bundy, who murdered upwards of 30 young women and girls.

Voltage Pictures

"I really wasn't interested in playing a serial killer, I'm not in the business of glamorising a horrendous person or his acts, but there is something unique about the way we went into the psyche of Ted and his long term girlfriend Liz," he explained.

"It's a different perspective and not your run-of-the-mill serial killer cliché, body count gets higher and higher and oh the guy you always knew did it, did it. This is what it was like to be there on the day, we didn't know if he was innocent or guilty, we just saw Ted Bundy through their eyes."

Last month a new trailer for the controversial film was released, in which we see Bundy using his charm to deceive people, like his long time girlfriend Elizabeth Kloeper, played by Lily Collins, as well as several clips from his trial, in which he famously defended himself against several of the murders.

Voltage Pictures

A synopsis of the film reads: "Ted (Efron): handsome, smart, charismatic, affectionate. Liz (Collins): a single mother, cautious, but smitten. A picture of domestic bliss, the two seem to have it all figured out.

"That is until Ted is arrested and charged with a series of increasingly grisly murders. As concern turns to paranoia, Liz is forced to consider how well she knows the man she shares a life with and, as the evidence piles up, decide if Ted is truly a victim, or actually guilty as charged."

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile will available on Sky Cinema in the UK on 3rd May.

Topics: TV News, Ted Bundy, TV Entertainment

Emma Rosemurgey

Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Junior Journalist at Tyla. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining the team in 2017. Contact her on [email protected]

@emmarosemurgey