Publicity firm PR Asia Worldwide said in its Twitter account that Zac Efron will be the newest endorser for a local clothing brand.

“With the awesome @ZacEfron who’s buzzin’ to hang out in the Philippines! Zefron is sending out his love to all of you,” tweeted publicist Joyce Ramirez via the firm’s account. She posted a photo of herself with Efron.

She also posted a different photo of herself with the young heartthrob, tweeting, “Guess WHO loves The Philippines? Be proud Pinoys! He can’t wait to meet all of you.”

Efron’s local fans have gone wild over the news that the Hollywood star may be Penshoppe’s new endorser.

“Mario Maurer, Chuck Bass and now it’s Zac Efron. You make every girl here in the Philippines scream for joy!” tweeted @micerese23 to @Penshoppe.

“Wat (what) a morning to me! Zac Efron a new #Penshoppe endorser waahhh! kaboomm! nga!!!” gushed @lieanne36.

“True ba toh?! Multi-million siguro deal nito nice one @PENSHOPPE,” said @t0dj, while @NuncaValderama said, “To be able to get Zac Efron is a huge milestone in this battle of the brands.”

As of posting time, Efron had not posted any statements on his official social media accounts about coming to the Philippines or promoting Penshoppe’s clothing line.

It has become a trend for local brands to get international talents as endorsers, in a bid to get on the top of the clothing pile. Kamiseta got Natalie Portman, Katie Holmes and Natalia Vodianova as endorsers, and Bench currently has David Archuleta, who stayed in the Philippines until about a month ago. His show on another network ended about two weeks ago, and he has reportedly started his religious mission in the US. [Source]

Zac Efron doesn’t believe he’s a heartthrob, and doesn’t like the label to begin with, US Weekly reported.

“For those of us who will never be a heartthrob, just explain what that’s like,” CBS Sunday Morning anchor Tracy Smith asked the 24-year-old star, in an episode that will air April 1.

“I can’t explain to you what it’s like to be a heartthrob, I don’t think I am a heartthrob,” Efron said. “I hate. I hate it. It follows you around, but you don’t deserve it. It’s like, ‘Why?’”

This isn’t the first time the former “High School Musical” star has expressed disatisfaction with his tween-pop fame.

“You can’t enjoy it or celebrate it; it’s not a real thing,” Efron told NYLON Guys in 2009. “The face on the lunchbox and sh***– you can’t share that with your friends.”

While Efron may not lose the “heartthrob” label any time soon, he has been taking on more serious roles.

In “The Lucky One,” a new film opening Apr. 20, Efron plays a Marine returning from Iraq, based on a 2008 Nicholas Sparks novel. [Source]

Get ready for another Nicholas Sparks book to hit the big screen! Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling are the newest stars to take on one of the famously romantic roles for the upcoming film, “The Lucky One.” As many fans will agree, chemistry is very important for stories and it sounds like Zac and Taylor have what it takes!

“The Lucky One” tells the story of Marine Logan Thibault (Zac) who travels to North Carolina after serving three tours in Iraq to search for a woman (Taylor) he found a picture of and believes to be his good luck charm.

When Zac his co-star Taylor for the first time, it was love at first sight.

“[Taylor] came in and was so professional and just so good,” Zac recalled to Coming Soon. “…I just remembered she was doing so many cool, subtle things that I was just fascinated with. So I was like, ‘I already love her. I don’t know how anybody else couldn’t.’ It made sense. She totally deserved it at this point. So I was blown away with her.”

As for Taylor, she didn’t know anything about Zac before she met him — but she learned to love him.

“The thing is, honestly, I didn’t know much of anything about Zac before I got this because I had never seen those High School Musical movies,” she explained with a laugh. “At this point, really, I can’t wait to see them when we’re done, because I can’t wait to see what he did before… I really got to know Zac when I tested for this film with him.”

And Zac blew her away too!

“He was just such an incredibly charming, down-to-Earth guy for me coming in. Me, who had never done a studio film before,” Taylor said. “He made me so comfortable at that test and was so generous and so wonderful and was also so interested in the work. He was so engaged in the scene and was so good. Just so good. So talented. It’s just been so wonderful to work with someone that I feel really has my back as a scene partner. There’s some really vulnerable stuff in this movie.” [Source]

December in Louisiana is quite a bit chillier than one might expect and, as press gather behind director Scott Hicks as he sets up an outdoor scene for “The Lucky One,” everyone is thankful for the portable heaters that line the perimeter of the frame.

Although Nicholas Sparks’ 2008 novel takes place primarily in North Carolina, the film has shifted the focus to Louisiana and is currently shooting in and around a welcome center in Covington. The outside serves as a farmer’s market visited by Taylor Schilling’s Beth Clayton and Blythe Danner’s Nana. Covered in pumpkins, colored leaves and other signs of suburban fall, the area also features a Marine recruitment table that connects the peaceful scene to Iraq, where the story begins for Zac Efron’s US Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault. Returning to Colorado after a third tour of duty, Logan sets out on a walk across America to find the woman pictured on his lucky charm, a photograph he found in the middle eastern desert.

“I think there’s nothing as extreme as being out there in a war,” Efron says of his character. “Coming home, he’s forced to sort of rediscover his life or whatever. What’s next? He’s on his own to find out what ultimately makes him happy and what he wants to do. I think it’s very different from taking orders and being with your brothers constantly and fighting a war and then trying to live your life after and find love.”

“I thought it was a story with a wonderful premise,” adds Hicks. “The idea that somebody finding something at random in such an unlikely place that it would end up changing their life and the life of several other people. I thought it was a really strong premise for a story that felt inherently visual as well.”

Efron’s approach to taking on the role of a marine may surprise fans that know him best from projects like “High School Musical.” To realistically capture his character’s physical look, Efron packed on quite a bit of muscle and underwent actual military training.

“Physically I started eating a lot,” he explains. “Eating through walls. Just eating and eating. That’s all I’d do and I put on some weight that way. As far as the training goes, just trying different techniques and methods and working with a guy who I met who trained Vanessa [Hudgens] during ‘Sucker Punch’… It’s one of the only concrete things that you can do to feel differently about a character. I didn’t feel like a Marine. I didn’t have the posture. I didn’t feel like I had the presence and that was just one thing for me that I could do to really up that change.”

“It’s been an important part of that process for him,” says Hicks, “finding that sort of game face that he has for the role. This is a character that’s been through a bit of trauma. He’s traumatized by his experience. This is not just Zac playing himself. He really has undertaken a character unlike anything of his own experience, so it’s a big acting step for him.”

[Continue reading the article]

Zac Efron had a bizarre connection to his personal trainer for “The Lucky One” – the instructor had previously whipped the actor’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens into shape for “Sucker Punch.”

The Hollywood hunk stars in the upcoming film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ bestselling novel, about a Marine who searches for the woman he believes is his good luck charm, and Efron gained 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms) by regularly guzzling a chicken puree.

He also worked out with a keep-fit instructor to bulk up – and he had a personal connection to the exercise expert.

Efron tells ComingSoon.net, “Physically I started eating a lot. Eating through walls. Just eating and eating. That’s all I’d do and I put on some weight that way. As far as the training goes, (I was) just trying different techniques and methods and working with a guy who I met who trained Vanessa during ‘Sucker Punch’… It’s one of the only concrete things that you can do to feel differently about a character. I didn’t feel like a Marine. I didn’t have the posture. I didn’t feel like I had the presence and that was just one thing for me that I could do to really up that change.”

The “High School Musical” co-stars split in 2010. [Source]

Zac Efron has been featured in the April issue of Vanity Fair Italia. Enjoy the scans below!

Gallery link:
• Vanity Fair Italia (April 2012) (x5)