Today’s top notch actors are vying for a starring role opposite Denzel Washington in “Safe House.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Daniel Espinosa are considering Tom Hardy (“Inception”), Zac Efron (“Charlie St. Cloud”), James McAvoy (“Wanted (2008)”), Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) and Shia LaBeouf (“Transformers”) to take the part, but Ryan Reynolds (“Green Lantern”) is the frontrunner.

Deadline Hollywood adds more names on the short list, mentioning Chris Pine (“Star Trek”), Garrett Hedlund (“Tron Legacy”), Channing Tatum (“G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra”), Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”), Jake Gyllenhaal (“Prince of Persia: Sands of Time”) and Taylor Kitsch (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) as other contenders. No offer has been made so far but it is expected to happen soon as decision will be made shortly.

Having a script written by David Guggenheim, “Safe House” revolves around “the only surviving agent of an attack on a CIA safe house as he tries to get a lethal prisoner to a second safe house before being taken out by violent forces that want them both dead.” Denzel Washington has inked the deal to play the prisoner weeks ago, while the chosen one among the batch of younger actors will portray the CIA agent.

Production for the thriller is scheduled to start in early 2011, with Argentina and South Africa among the places being scouted. Scott Stuber will produce the upcoming movie and Trevor Macy is set to serve as executive producer. Universal Pictures has nabbed the U.S. distribution rights for the flick. [Source]

Zac Efron was spotted arriving at a hotel in Beverly Hills on 11 August 2010. Enjoy the pics!

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• August 11 – Arriving At Hotel In Beverly Hills (x7)

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens attended the event celebrating the launch of the September issue of Details magazine. Enjoy the pics! UPDATED!

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• Details Magazine September Issue Launch 08/10/2010 (x22)

Zac Efron was spotted reading a script at a gas station in Los Angeles on 10 August 2010. Enjoy the pics!

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• August 10 – At Gas Station In Los Angeles (x25)

Zac Efron showed his support for girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens during her final performance in hit musical “Rent” on Sunday by cheekily tipping her $20 during a sexy striptease. The actress starred as 19-year-old Mimi, a troubled HIV-positive stripper, in the three-day Hollywood Bowl production.

But audience members got an unexpected surprise on Sunday when Efron stood up from his front row seat to hand his belle a reward for her hard work during one raunchy dance routine for the song Out Tonight.

Fans’ video footage posted online shows Hudgens reaching out to grab the cash before stuffing it in her bra, reports PopEater.com. [Source]

There are few things I love more than a good profile story, and fortunately Details magazine provides quite a few to meet my quota. The most recent to come under their dissecting eye is “Charlie St. Cloud” star Zac Efron, who was unfortunately suffering a terrible case of poison oak at the time of the interview.

The article is entitled “The Agony of Zac Efron,” and details the tough life it is to be one of the nicest actors in Hollywood. What’s nice about the story is that it really gives a sense of Zac as person, instead of as the pretty boy girls like to swoon over or the baby-faced Disney star that guys love to hate. But fortunately, the article does more than just show people the true side of Zac. Writer Andrew Goldman probed on some pretty touchy subjects, such as Zac not joining the “Footloose” remake. Turns out everyone had been behind the project: Paramount, “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega, Zac’s manager Jason Barrett… everyone except Zac.

“All the things I loved about ‘Footloose’ I couldn’t find in the project,” he said. “They just weren’t there. I couldn’t see myself doing it.” He said that calling Kenny to tell him that he was going to pass on “Footloose” was “literally the hardest phone call I’ve ever made.”

Then there’s the whole subject of his relationship with Vanessa Hudgens, which thanks his courage being bolstered by three quarters of a bottle of a nice red wine, Andrew was willing to ask if it was just a business coupling orchestrated by Disney to cover up Zac’s alleged homosexuality.

“That’s just fucking insane,” Zac said. “I’ve never even heard of that happening. I don’t even know who I would have been around who would have thought that was even a good idea. Right now [the gossip industry knows] exactly what’s going on and it’s not very interesting and there’s no money to be made on it. It’s exactly how it should be. It’s real.” [Source]

After presenting at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards on Sunday night, Zac Efron headed on over to watch girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens‘ last performance in “Rent” at The Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night (August 8). During her “Out Tonight” number, JJJ saw Zac get up from his seat “tip” Vanessa $20, which she gladly took and stuffed in her top.

After the performance, JJJ got to see and chat with Vanessa, who had tears coming from her eyes. “I can’t believe it’s over,” she told us exclusively. [Source]