Zac Efron has worked steadily since his days starring in a certain mega-successful Disney franchise. But despite gravitating toward more serious roles in movies like “Me and Orson Welles” and “Charlie St. Cloud,” he’s still best known as that guy from “High School Musical.” But his latest film, “The Paperboy,” could change all that.
Directed by Lee Daniels and based on the novel by Pete Dexter, “The Paperboy” follows a group of newspapermen investigating the case of a death row inmate in 1960s Florida. Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) stands accused of murdering the town sheriff, and his flirtatious fiancee Charlotte (Nicole Kidman) is determined to clear his name.
Hotshot Miami journalist Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) and his fellow reporter Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) are hot on the case, convinced it could become the story of their careers. They return to Ward’s hometown to investigate, where his younger brother Jack (Efron), the town paperboy, becomes mixed up in the action and gets in way over his head as he develops an attraction to Charlotte.
I’m a sucker for journalism movies, and at the beginning of the trailer, it looks as though “The Paperboy” could be a suspenseful tale of two investigative journalists’ attempts to exonerate someone they believe to be an innocent man. But it quickly veers into sexual thriller territory as the Hillary-Charlotte-Jack triangle overshadows the investigative journalism plot. The trailer is kind of all over the place, but I’m definitely intrigued given the talent involved in front of and behind the camera.
“The Paperboy” opens Oct. 5. .
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THis looks great.