Zac Efron Interview For We Are Your Friends
Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski Share Their Sweet First Impressions of Each Other
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
You might be surprised by the first impressions Zac Efron left on his We Are Your Friends costar and director. We recently sat down with Zac, Emily Ratajkowski, and Max Joseph to talk about their new movie, which comes out on Aug. 28, and the group dished on everything from their first perceptions of one another to "a really nice moment" they shared behind the scenes. Zac also opened up about his early days in Hollywood and shared why he loves playing musicians. Keep reading for the scoop, then check out hot pictures of Zac from the movie plus must-see snaps from their San Francisco appearance.
![POPSUGAR: Obviously you guys know each other well now, but what were your first impressions of one another when you first met?
Zac Efron: Ooh, good question.
Max Joseph: Yeah, we haven't really ever talked about the first time we met. You [to Zac] came in, your energy was a little low. You were kind of quiet, and I was expecting high-energy Zac Efron. I thought something was on his mind. I thought maybe you were having an off day, in a weird way, and it was really interesting. I liked it. He was quiet and thoughtful about something else.
PS: Which is sort of how the character is too.
MJ: Yeah, and I kind of leaned into that. I was like, that's really cool, and I don't think anyone has seen a side of him like that. There was some major inner life happening in there.
ZE: I think what was on my mind at that moment, and what's always on my mind when I first meet for a project, is, what does it mean to me? There was something profound about the sizzle reel that Max sent, and I had not read the script yet, but I was just caught up in how much I was really engaged with the material. And that's always scary, because it feels like you might be committing to something.
Emily Ratajkowski: It's like going on a first date with someone you already know you want to marry.
ZE: Yeah, exactly.](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/x3If1euE2JW6H-Suz_lX9Z1D4So/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2015/08/24/752/n/1922398/59bde2ab3431a32c_GettyImages-484694388/i/POPSUGAR-Obviously-you-guys-know-each-other-well-now-what-were.jpg "POPSUGAR: Obviously you guys know each other well now, but what were your first impressions of one another when you first met?
Zac Efron: Ooh, good question.
Max Joseph: Yeah, we haven't really ever talked about the first time we met. You [to Zac] came in, your energy was a little low. You were kind of quiet, and I was expecting high-energy Zac Efron. I thought something was on his mind. I thought maybe you were having an off day, in a weird way, and it was really interesting. I liked it. He was quiet and thoughtful about something else.
PS: Which is sort of how the character is too.
MJ: Yeah, and I kind of leaned into that. I was like, that's really cool, and I don't think anyone has seen a side of him like that. There was some major inner life happening in there.
ZE: I think what was on my mind at that moment, and what's always on my mind when I first meet for a project, is, what does it mean to me? There was something profound about the sizzle reel that Max sent, and I had not read the script yet, but I was just caught up in how much I was really engaged with the material. And that's always scary, because it feels like you might be committing to something.
Emily Ratajkowski: It's like going on a first date with someone you already know you want to marry.
ZE: Yeah, exactly.")
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
![PS: Zac, your character, Cole, is in the middle of the hustle, just starting his career — did this role make you kind of nostalgic, or make you look back on your early days in Hollywood?
ZE: It was oddly reminiscent of them [those days], for specific reasons. If you took music out of the equation and put acting in, I sort of ran around with a crew of hustling actors. We were all on our own paths, some of them were hustling harder than others. I was somewhere in the middle. I wasn't really like the head of the pack, I wasn't trying to be the party or anything like that, but I also wasn't, you know, the runt. I was just one of the guys. I found several mentors, and I had some good luck, and I found my way.
PS: Can you guys talk about the party scenes? I'm really curious as to whether there was actually music playing and how that looks when you're filming it.
ZE: Contrary to most movies I've ever done, yes.
MJ: There was music playing in all the party scenes, yeah. We knew that there wasn't going to be dialogue during those scenes, so we played it, and we played it loud, and we just let it roll and roll and roll.
ER: At the end, with the credits, when you see us all dancing, that's real.
ZE: The cameras never stopped.
MJ: Some of my favorite bits of footage is from before we even started shooting, when I rented a house in the valley for the weekend and I invited the guys there to do some male bonding. Just for them to meet each other and establish their friendship. I shot a lot of it, and that's in a lot of the opening credits, and it's at the end, too. They were freestyling at the house and just hanging around. It was all very natural and real.](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/J0-48xrL5x35lnkxqUp-q0lsKJE/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2015/08/24/765/n/1922398/fadc7985_GettyImages-484436436/i/PS-Zac-your-character-Cole-middle-hustle-just.jpg "PS: Zac, your character, Cole, is in the middle of the hustle, just starting his career — did this role make you kind of nostalgic, or make you look back on your early days in Hollywood?
ZE: It was oddly reminiscent of them [those days], for specific reasons. If you took music out of the equation and put acting in, I sort of ran around with a crew of hustling actors. We were all on our own paths, some of them were hustling harder than others. I was somewhere in the middle. I wasn't really like the head of the pack, I wasn't trying to be the party or anything like that, but I also wasn't, you know, the runt. I was just one of the guys. I found several mentors, and I had some good luck, and I found my way.
PS: Can you guys talk about the party scenes? I'm really curious as to whether there was actually music playing and how that looks when you're filming it.
ZE: Contrary to most movies I've ever done, yes.
MJ: There was music playing in all the party scenes, yeah. We knew that there wasn't going to be dialogue during those scenes, so we played it, and we played it loud, and we just let it roll and roll and roll.
ER: At the end, with the credits, when you see us all dancing, that's real.
ZE: The cameras never stopped.
MJ: Some of my favorite bits of footage is from before we even started shooting, when I rented a house in the valley for the weekend and I invited the guys there to do some male bonding. Just for them to meet each other and establish their friendship. I shot a lot of it, and that's in a lot of the opening credits, and it's at the end, too. They were freestyling at the house and just hanging around. It was all very natural and real.")
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
