Zac Efron uses Tinder, but it doesn't always go well

The hunky US actor presumably doesn't have to resort to online ads for dates, so we ask him if he can relate to his latest comedy Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates

Entertainment Columnist

Sep 07, 2016 06:00 am

This really happened.

Two hard-partying, semi-obnoxious brothers are ordered by their family to bring respectable dates to their sister's Hawaiian wedding, so the duo turn to their go-to source for everything - Craigslist. When they get thousands of responses and media attention for their hilarious ad, it's a no-brainer that Hollywood comes calling.

And so a movie, Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates, has been made and it takes the premise even further: The girls (Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza) chosen by the brothers (Zac Efron and Adam Devine) are even crazier than they are.

It opened here on Thursday (Sept 8).

HAMMING IT UP: Zac Efron with Anna Kendrick. PHOTO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

At the London West Hollywood hotel, Efron, 28, shows up with blond hair and dark roots, wearing a jacket that appears to be bleached by mistake in the laundry.

He is not the world's most articulate talker, but his sweetness and comic timing probably got him the role of the less obnoxious brother.

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The hunky US actor presumably doesn't have to resort to online ads for dates, so we ask him if he can relate to his latest comedy.

He says with a laugh: "I use Tinder like everyone else. It doesn't always go well. People think I'm fake so usually I just don't reply."

(From left) Aubrey Plaza, Kendrick and Adam Devine and Efron from the movie. PHOTO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

He has been working a lot, though, so there hasn't been much time for dating.

"Maybe I'll be in that scenario soon. I'll report back how it goes. I know it's going to be really awkward, like it always was."

What kind of girl would he look for?

"Somebody who is fun to talk to. Somebody that I can make laugh. Somebody that I can show new things and somebody that shows me new things. Somebody that wants to find adventure and loves life," he says.

EXCITED

The real brothers on whom the movie was based turned up on the set in Hawaii, which got Efron "really excited".

"We got to finally talk to them and, like, they're not insane, they're not crazy. They're real guys.

"That being said, we were filming so we were very busy and they wanted to party. We're, like, 'It's Tuesday and I have a 6am call time, but you guys have fun'. They were very nice and we got a sense of who they really were."

PLAYFUL: Zac Efron (left) and Adam Devine hamming it up at the Hollywood premiere of their movie. PHOTO: AFP

Why does he think weddings are great source material for Hollywood comedies?

"The reason weddings are so brilliant and the reason they bring people to the cinema is because I think people want to believe that they're in the presence of true love.

"That's a line from (the 2005 movie) Wedding Crashers. Owen Wilson said that," Efron says with a laugh.

PLAYFUL: (Above) Efron with Anna Kendrick. PHOTO: REUTERS

Shooting in Hawaii was the perfect location for the adrenaline junkie in him, to do things like going cliff jumping with co-star Devine.

He says: "I'm sure our producers weren't too happy about it after the fact, but we didn't tell them till later.

"We had ample time to rehearse so I wasn't worried about the work, but...we were actually excited to go to sleep on Friday night so we could wake up and charge Saturday and Sunday.

"We'd find caves, we'd climb to the top of mountains, we would go shark diving, night hikes.

"We would always come back with a new cut or a bruise or something like that and they'd be, like, 'What did you guys do during lunch'?"

For someone who achieved success early in his career by performing in the Disney Channel series High School Musical, Efron has not really focused on music lately.

But there's a scene where he sings and there was also dancing involved, but Efron freaked out when he saw that the dance floor was just stacked hay barrels.

"That dance sequence and whole song at the end - I'm happy it made it (into the film)... I love that I was able to be sort of Ray Charles for a second and sing love songs to my (on-screen) sister. I really love that moment."

Anna Kendrick: 'Zac's a bad influence'

Meher Tatna

Entertainment Columnist

If you're looking to cast a "pretty intense, crazy, down-on-her-luck, tough chick", the first person you'd think of probably wouldn't be sweet and proper Anna Kendrick.

And yet, the 31-year-old US actress won the role of one of the wedding dates in Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Along with Aubrey Plaza, who plays her partner-in-crime, her character tricks the brothers (Zac Efron and Adam Devine) into thinking they're perfect dates in order to get a free holiday in Hawaii, and then ruin the wedding with their out-of-control antics.

At our interview at the London West Hollywood hotel, Kendrick, who will be all over the big screen till the end of the year with a string of movies like The Hollars (Sept 22), The Accountant (Oct 13) and Trolls (Nov 3), is every bit the engaging girl next door you think she is.

Tiny in stature, she nevertheless has a big voice, a testament to the theatre work with which she started her career, but which she explains is a defence against being petite.

Are you a party girl in real life?

I am not really a big party girl. But I will say that when we were making this movie, I definitely succumbed to some peer pressure and partied a little bit.

Zac is such a good guy, but for me, he was a little bit of a bad influence, because I am usually not the person to jump off a cliff into a waterfall, but when he is doing it, you feel like, "Well, I would be an idiot not to do it, right?"

PHOTO: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

Are you easily influenced into crazy behaviour?

I am pretty stubborn. Which is why I am surprised that Zac got me to cliff dive...

I feel like I avoided a lot of peer pressure in high school because my older brother was, like, "Everybody stay away from her".

When I first moved to Los Angeles, my neighbours were three exotic dancers, and so for a couple of years, they sort of took me under their wing and I was this mousy, nerdy friend and they took me to parties and stuff and I just sat in the corner and watched them party.

What are your thoughts on online dating?

I applaud people who are brave enough to do it. It seems like a deathtrap to me... like, it must set you up for years of therapy from like meeting all different kinds of crazy people. And the rejection - I don't think I could handle it.

This new generation, they are really going for it and I wish them the best of luck because I can't imagine how scary it would be for anybody to put yourself out there for anybody to see.

And certainly, I would be the crazy one, always thinking I was going to get chopped up into a million pieces by the end of the night (laughs).

You have a book coming out later this year with anecdotes about being on film sets. Can you share one about The Twilight Saga?

One of the things I wrote about was the day we shot the dream sequence, where I was, like, in a pile of dead bodies and (lead couple Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson) are standing on top of us because Bella is having a dream where we are all dead.

And so I was getting buckets of blood poured on me as I was under(their) feet and it was the coolest, and I was, like, I am really doing it, I am really making movies (laughs).