Zac Efron’s done a fine job as of late when it comes to ditching his teen heartthrob status, proving to the world that he’s a reliable comedic actor who can also handle the occasional straight dramatic part. But his upcoming role as Ted Bundy might just put his squeaky-clean image to rest for good, as he’s set to portray one of the most notorious serial killers in history in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which recently premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival to fairly strong reviews.
As the first trailer showed us, Joe Berlinger’s upcoming biopic is less concerned about the actual crimes committed by Bundy and more on his ability to charm and deceive people into thinking he was innocent. Clearly, then, it was always going to take a talented actor to lead the movie but it seems that Efron was definitely up to the task. And not only was he up to the task, but there’s now some chatter that he may even find himself with awards recognition come next year.
That’s because Netflix has picked up the US rights and a few foreign rights for the Voltage Pictures project. It’s a move that makes a lot of sense for the streaming site, too, as they’re already home to companion docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. But what’s perhaps most interesting is that apparently, Netflix is planning an awards season theatrical run for Extremely Wicked as well, in the hopes of landing a couple of nominations for Efron.
Release dates for when the movie will hit the platform and subsequently, theaters, haven’t been revealed, but you can bet that the company will want to capitalize on all the buzz surrounding Ted Bundy at the moment. As such, we imagine that audiences will be able to check out Berlinger’s film at some point in the next few months. Or failing that, definitely before the end of the year.
We’ll keep you posted when we hear more about Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, but it’s great to see Netflix swooping in to snag the rights and hopefully, we’ll learn of their release plans sooner rather than later.