Zac Efron’s newest movie was mainly filmed in the Greater Cincinnati area
Photo courtesy of IMDb | Zac Efron (left) and Lily Collins (right) will star in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which follows the life of Ted Bundy (Efron) through the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer (Collins).
Zac Efron’s new movie, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which was filmed mostly in Covington, Ky., and Southwest Ohio, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the United States. Sundance will premiere 112 feature length films from 33 countries and 45 first-time filmmakers, per IndieWire.
In the movie, Efron plays notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to 30 homicides in seven states between 1974-1978 before being executed in 1989.
The role is a pretty significant switch for Efron, who is best known for his role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical franchise and more recently has had roles in The Greatest Showman, Baywatch and Neighbors.
Directed by Joe Berlinger, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile chronicles the crimes of Ted Bundy from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years. Lily Collins is slated to play the role of Kloepfer in the film. Other members of the cast include Hayley Joel Osment, John Malkovich and Jim Parsons.
The movie was filmed at locations such as the Pepper Pod restaurant in Newport, Ky., and the Clermont County Jail. Some locations in Fort Thomas were also used for filming.
“I’m thrilled for this movie,” first-year criminal justice major Owen Hunt said. “I’m pretty interested in the Ted Bundy case, and I can’t wait to see it play out on the big screen.”
Hunt also added that the recently-released screenshots only increased his excitement.
“From what I saw, they really nailed the look. It’s almost creepy how similar Zac Efron looks like Bundy,” Hunt said.
Last March, Efron assured fans that the movie wouldn’t glorify the crimes of Bundy.
“He wasn’t a person to be glorified. (The movie) simply tells a story and sort of how the world was able to be charmed over by this guy who was notoriously evil and the vexing position that so many people were put in, the world was put in. It was fun to go and experiment in that realm of reality,” Efron told Entertainment Tonight last March.
Efron also told Entertainment Tonight that he didn’t take the role home with him.
“I didn’t go full method and I didn’t have to like do any weird stuff to anybody to get into character,” he said. “It’s a different type of film.”
Recent movies filmed in the Cincinnati area include The Old Man & The Gun and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, both of which received critical acclaim. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is slated for a release in theaters in 2019.
By: Joe Clark | Staff Writer