Zac Efron is about to get into some real weird shit. According to Deadline, the actor has been cast in King of the Jungle, an upcoming movie about the real-life Wired journalist who profiled John McAfee, creator of McAfee Antivirus.
The film is based on an article published in Wired magazine that detailed the crazy story of McAfee. After creating his anti-virus software, the billionaire took his money and went into hiding in the jungles of Belize at a compound run on sex, drugs, and guns. Efron will star as Ari Furman, a journalist tapped with profiling McAfee who quickly learns that this gig isn’t the easy piece he assumed it’d be when he took the job.
The film is being directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the duo behind I Love You Phillip Morris and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski of American Crime Story fame are writing the script for the film. STX is in final talks to distribute the film in the States but, nothing has been made official yet.
Efron has had a big year so far. He starred in Netflix’s Ted Bundy biopic, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which dropped back in May. He’s also set to lend his voice to the upcoming Scooby-Doo reboot, Scoob, as Fred.
King of the Jungle has yet to receive a release date.
