Zac Efron Just Revealed The Disturbing Way Playing Ted Bundy Impacted His Psyche

• At the London premiere of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, the film’s star Zac Efron revealed that playing Ted Bundy had put his mental health “to the test.”
• He added that separating himself from the role was “almost impossible.”
• Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile premieres on Netflix on May 3.

Netflix’s highly-anticipated Ted Bundy movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile doesn’t premiere until May 3, but it’s already taken a toll on the film’s star, Zac Efron. At the London red carpet premiere of the Ted Bundy biopic, Zac revealed to Metro that his mental health “was put to the test” while playing the infamous serial killer who murdered at least 30 women in the ’70s.

“I’ve never played a role in which I have to separate myself. It was almost impossible,” he explained. “I would like to say I did that successfully, but I couldn’t.”

According to MovieWeb, Zac also said that he “didn’t go too method” to portray Bundy. “You have to be careful for your own emotions, your own safety,” he told the publication. “…I was able to compartmentalize myself and leave him on set, in the jail cell—most days.”

While Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile obviously focuses on Ted Bundy, it’s told from the perspective of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer (also known by her pseudonym Liz Kendall). The film has already come under fire, with some thinking the movie glamorizes the serial killer, but both Zac and the film’s director, Joe Berlinger, have assured potential viewers that’s not the case.

“I wasn’t interested in playing a serial killer. I’m not in the business of glamorizing such a horrendous person or his acts,” Zac continued at the premiere. “But there is something unique about the way going into the psyche of Ted and his longtime girlfriend Liz. It’s a different perspective and not your run-of-the-mill serial killer, cliche, bodycount gets higher and higher and ‘oh the guy you always knew did it’ [film]. It was what it was like to be there on the day.”

Joe Berlinger (who btw, also directed The Ted Bundy Tapes), also previously told Buzzfeed News that the biopic “is a serious portrait of how Bundy deceived the people closest to him and his manipulation of the American media allowed him to flourish and evade detection and capture for so long.” He also made clear that “our film in no way glorifies Bundy or his atrocious acts.”

While successfully taking on such a mentally taxing role is a testament to Zac’s acting ability, I bet reprising his role as Troy Bolton in High School Musical 4 looks pretty good right about now…

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