{"id":1442843,"date":"2024-07-18T13:08:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T17:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/blog\/?p=1442843"},"modified":"2024-07-18T13:08:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T17:08:04","slug":"did-zac-efron-star-in-romeo-and-juliet-in-1968-an-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/did-zac-efron-star-in-romeo-and-juliet-in-1968-an-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Zac Efron Star in <i>Romeo and Juliet<\/i> in 1968? An Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/31020zacefronrandjMAIN_LargeWide.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously the answer is no. No, Zac Efron did not star in a film adaptation of <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em> in 1968; he was born in 1987, nearly twenty years after the fact. That would be impossible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or would it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know you have questions. Luckily, I have the answers. Let&#8217;s start from the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Who is even asking this?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> Good question! And the answer is everyone. Everyone who&#8217;s ever taken a ninth-grade English class and was alive when <em>High School Musical<\/em> had an iron grip on the cultural zeitgeist, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/rjzacefron3.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Okay, but <em>why<\/em> are they asking this?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> Every year, all across America, freshman English teachers finish off their classroom&#8217;s Romeo and Juliet unit by showing one of three movies.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The 1996 movie <em>Romeo + Juliet<\/em>, directed by Baz Luhrmann<\/li><li>The 2013 version, directed by Carlo Carlei<\/li><li>The 1968 movie, directed by Franco Zeffirelli<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who watch the 1968 movie are often struck by a single pernicious thought: <em>Wait, is that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6? It can&#8217;t be. But maybe\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/rjzacefron2.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here on the left is Troy Bolton<em> <\/em>in 2006. On the right is Romeo Montague in 1968. Clearly, there&#8217;s something fishy going on here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/rjzacefron8.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/rjzacefron9.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Yahoo! Answers is full of questions on the subject. It&#8217;s very affirming to know we&#8217;re all on the same page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: I disagree. I don&#8217;t think he looks anything like Zac Efron.<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> It&#8217;s worth noting that the Zac Efron of today and the Zac Efron of 2006 are two entirely different beasts. Today&#8217;s Zac Efron stars in movies like <em>The Greatest Showman<\/em>, <em>Baywatch<\/em>, and that Ted Bundy movie. He sports a bleached coiffure, immaculately groomed facial scruff, and abs you could grate cheese on. But I&#8217;m old enough to remember when Zac Efron&#8217;s claim to fame was Disney Channel. He was adored by preteens and maligned by pretty much everyone else as \u201cgirly\u201d because, I don&#8217;t know, he straightened his hair? He danced?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look, between 2006 and 2010, every floppy-haired white guy might as well have been Zac Efron. Zac Efron invented blue eyes and side-swept bangs paired with basketball shorts and a slim build. The guy in <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em> did not have basketball shorts, but you know what he did have? <em>Everything else.<\/em> Back in the day, students all over the nation were watching <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em> (1968) and having the exact same reaction, which was \u201cI&#8217;d know that layered mop anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, if I may present a counterpoint: you say he doesn&#8217;t look like Zac Efron, but he kind of <em>does<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/rjzacefron1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: You&#8217;ve convinced me. That really does look like Zac Efron. <em>Is<\/em> that Zac Efron?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> IMDb claims it is not. According to them, Romeo was played by Leonard Whiting, an English actor. However, I find it extremely suspicious that both Leonard Whiting and Zac Efron are 5&#8217;8\u201d. I don&#8217;t know what this could mean, but I do know it&#8217;s not nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Let&#8217;s say, for the sake of argument, that it is Zac Efron. How would he have pulled that off?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> The way I see it, there are three plausible scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Zac Efron is the reincarnation of Leonard Whiting. This theory would hold more water if Leonard Whiting weren&#8217;t still alive, but I&#8217;m not ruling anything out.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Zac Efron has figured out how to travel through time, but he can only do it when he&#8217;s going back to star in Shakespeare adaptations.<\/li><li>Zac Efron is a timeless immortal and &#8220;Leonard Whiting&#8221; doesn&#8217;t exist. He never did.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Has Zac Efron ever acknowledged this? Has Leonard Whiting?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> Not to my knowledge. I listened to several recent interviews with &#8220;Leonard Whiting&#8221; and Olivia Hussey, who played the Juliet to his Romeo, and not one single interviewer had the gumption to ask the questions that matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although, did you know Leonard and Olivia reunited in 2015 (almost fifty years later!) to do an indie film loosely based on <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>? Neither did I! It was called <em>Social Suicide<\/em>, and it was directed by Bruce Webb. Any relation to Marc Webb, who directed <em>The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em> and <em>500 Days of Summer<\/em>? I&#8217;ll check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Okay, I feel like we&#8217;re getting off-track here.<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> I wonder what Andrew Garfield&#8217;s up to these days. When&#8217;s the last time anyone Googled Andrew Garfield?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q: Can we focus?<\/strong><br><strong>A:<\/strong> Fine. Anyway, I think we can all agree that Zac Efron played Romeo in 1968 somehow. Look out for my next investigation in which I Google Andrew Garfield and just list all the things I forgot he was in. (<em>Doctor Who<\/em> in 2007!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obviously the answer is no. No, Zac Efron did not star in a film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in 1968; he was born in 1987, nearly twenty years after the fact. That would be   <a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"continue-text\">continue reading<\/span><svg class=\"continue-icon\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" alt=\"\">\n    <path fill=\"#007acd\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\" d=\"M13.442 5.558L19.885 12l-6.443 6.442-.884-.884 4.934-4.934L4 12.625v-1.25l13.492-.001-4.934-4.932.884-.884z\"><\/path>\n  <\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[25115,25017,171,248],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442843"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1442843"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442905,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442843\/revisions\/1442905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}