Zac Efron, the High School Musical sweetheart, is a huge Michael Jackson fan and despite the two men never met, thanks to Kenny Ortega, the two stars spoke on the phone.
In a 2017 interaction, the Baywatch actor recalled having a telephonic conversation with Michael Jackson. This call took place when he was promoting High School Musical 3 in Paris with director Kenny Ortega. Recalling their conversation, Zac said it happened when he was dining with Ortega — the man who directed several of Michael’s world tours and High School Musicals movies.
Recalling their telephonic interaction, Zac Efron told the host of The Graham Norton Show, “I was like, ‘This is Zac Efron. I’m a massive fan. I’m an actor. You’re like my hero?’ I didn’t know what to say and I was just at a loss for words and rambling on. And he said, ‘That’s really nice. Can you hand the phone back to Kenny?’” So Efron did.
It seems that Michael Jackson did not click who was on the other side of the phone. But that’s not where things ended. Michael unexpectedly called director Kenny Ortega once more and asked for Zac Efron. When the latter took the call, Michael said, “’Oh, this is Zac from High School Musical?’ I was like, Uh, yeah. He’s like, ‘I love what you do. I’m a huge fan. I love what you do.’” Saying he burst into tears then, the 17 Again actor said, “I lost it. I lost my balance. I think I fell over into the wall. I was like, ‘Do you know who I am? What?’”
“I like slid down to the floor pathetically and professed how much I loved him. I said like, ‘You’re my hero. You’re the reason I do what I do. Thank you so much, Michael for everything. Thanks for showing me how to dance, how to believe in myself — I don’t know, how to shine.’ That made him cry. So we’re both crying to each other on the phone.”
Zac Efron added that Michael Jackson ended the phone call by saying, “He ended the whole phone-call conversation with something along the lines of, Hey, Zac. And I stopped crying for a second. Isn’t it awesome? I was like, What? And he goes, Dreams really do come true, don’t they?”
