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Zac Efron on Starring in New Grease TV Musical: "Those Are Big Shoes to Fill"

Exclusive! Actor is on E! Online's wish list of possible hotties to play Danny Zuko

By Marc Malkin Apr 30, 2014 3:00 AMTags
John Travolta, Grease, Zac EfronParamount Pictures

As loyal readers of E! Online already know, Zac Efron is on our wish list of possible contenders to play Danny Zuko in Fox's upcoming Grease Live special.

I let Mr. Efron know how we felt when I caught up with him at last night's premiere of his new comedy, Neighbors (in theaters May 9).

"That's an honor," he said. "Those are big shoes to fill. I think I came as close to it as you could in High School Musical.

"To actually do that?" he continued. "Yeah, those are big shoes."

W Blanco/AKM-GSI

John Travolta starred as Danny in the 1978 movie adaptation of the 1971 musical. Olivia Newton-John costarred as goody two shoes Sandy Olsson. Rounding out the cast were Jeff Conaway and Stockard Channing.

Following NBC's hit Sound of Music Live!, Fox announced that Grease Live is set to premiere in 2015.

"From Broadway to film, and across generations, Grease is one of the most beloved musical stories ever told—and we can't wait to bring it to our air in a spectacular live event," Fox's senior vice president of event series Shana C. Waterman said in a statement at the time of the announcement. "Its iconic characters and addictive songs make it the perfect fit for Fox, and we're going to give it the kind of star power and production quality to make every Sandy, Danny, Rizzo and Kenickie out there want to get up and sing along."

NBC previously announced that the network's next live musical will be Peter Pan.

Efron exclusively told us last month that he's "100 percent" up for doing a High School Muscial reunion movie.