Matthew Perry Wanted Zac Efron to Play Him in a Biopic About His Life
Matthew Perry was seriously considering a biopic about his life before tragically passing away at the age of 54 last month. According to Entertainment Tonight Canada, his friend Athenna Crosby, whom he was photographed with a day before his death, said the beloved Friends star was “enthusiastic” about exploring his battle with addiction through a feature film. Moreover, he knew that he wanted upcoming The Iron Claw star Zac Efron to play a younger version of himself for the project. Perry hoped the film would be an uplifting tale about his ultimate triumph over addiction meant to inspire others in a similar situation.
“He said that he wanted to make a movie about his life,” Crosby told ET. As for why he wanted Efron to lead the film, she revealed that it was because of their previous time together as co-stars on 17 Again. “And he had worked with Zac Efron in the past on a movie, and he said that he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version [of himself] and that he was gonna ask him soon to do that. He was just looking forward to sharing more about his story and his recovery from addiction, and really championing that cause to help more people, so he was so optimistic and happy about everything that he wanted to do.”
Directed by Burr Steers, 17 Again is a Freaky Friday-like teen fantasy comedy that stars Perry as Mike O’Donnell, a 37-year-old man working a dead-end job with his wife Scarlet about to leave him and his kids utterly disinterested in him. He’s given a chance to fix everything after a chance encounter reverts him into his 17-year-old self, played by Efron, allowing him to identify with and get closer to his children and slowly win back his wife Scarlet. Perry was so impressed with Efron’s performance as his character’s younger self that he trusted the actor enough to re-enact some of the hardest moments of his life.
Perry Was Eager About the Future Before His Untimely Death
Among other things, Crosby said that Perry was in a very good place before he died. Although his last role on-screen was in The Kennedys – After Camelot in 2017, everyone still knew and loved him thanks to his world-famous role as Chandler Bing. His view of the future was particularly rosy as he hoped to reinvigorate his career with several new projects. “He was doing great. He is a very funny person, as most people know him to be,” she continued. “He’s goofy, he’s silly. He was cracking jokes the whole time. He was speaking to me about some of the upcoming projects that he wanted to work on. He was very optimistic about the future. He was talking about how there’s been a public resurgence of interest in him lately and how he was hoping to utilize that to have a second act in his career. He was happy as a clam. So, that’s the person that I spoke to.”
The loss of Perry hit all over the world, sparking reactions from throughout the industry including from his Friends co-stars who remembered him as a positive force aboard the show. Although many are still processing the sudden and unexpected tragedy, there is some good coming of it. The Matthew Perry Foundation has been established to help others on the road to recovery from addiction.
