Actor Zac Efron would be “honoured” to play the late Matthew Perry, whom he calls his “mentor”, on the big screen.The 'Greatest Showman' star graciously responded after the 'Friends' actor reportedly expressed his desire to have Efron portray him in a biopic of his life.
“I’m honoured to hear he was thinking of me to play him,” he told People at the premiere of his film 'The Iron Claw' on Wednesday, reports pagesix.com.“We’ll see. I’d be honoured to do it.”Efron also grieved his '17 Again' co-star, sharing that he is “devastated” by Perry’s death.
“He was a mentor to me, and we made a really cool film together,” he said.“I looked up to him, I learned comedic timing from that guy. I mean, when we were filming ’17 Again’ it was so surreal for me to look across and have him be there, because I’ve learned so much from him, from his whole life.”
In the 2009 film, Efron plays the younger version of Perry’s character, Mike O’Donnell. Perry’s friend Athenna Crosby, who was one of the last people seen with him before he died on October 28, previously revealed that he wanted the 'High School Musical' actor, 36, to star in his movie.
She added that Perry was “enthusiastic” about the film and optimistic about life before he was found dead from an apparent drowning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 54.Perry was laid to rest in a private section at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California on November 3. His funeral was attended by his 'Friends' co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow.