As Zac Efron joined Hollywood’s finest, receiving a star on the Walk of Fame, he took a moment to recognise those who helped him get to where he is today.
In particular he paid tribute to the late Matthew Perry, who passed away October 28th. As he accepted the honor of joining the likes of The Beatles and Muhammed Ali on the Walk of Fame, he made a speech:
“I really also want to mention someone that’s not here today”, the former High School Musical actor announced.
He continued: “And that’s Matthew Perry, who was so kind and generous with me when we worked on 17 Again.”
“Collaborating with him and Burr Steers was so much fun and it really did propel me and motivate me in so many ways”, he explained. “It really pushed me into the next chapter of my career and for that, thank you so much Matthew. Thinking about you a lot today.”
As he thanked the Friends actor, he looked up at the sky emotionally.
The brief yet respectful expression of gratitude comes as the two worked together on 17 Again in which Zac played a younger version of Matthew’s character. Matthew played a down-on-his-luck father with a dwindling relationship with his kids whose wife has just filed for divorce.
The Friends actor felt so utterly taken by Zac’s performance that he’d wanted to work with the actor again on a future project. He confessed to Atenna Crosby a couple days before that he wanted to reunite with his co-star to “to make a movie about his life and have a biopic made.”
He explained that the reason he “wanted Zac Efron, who's played him already, to play him again [was] because he said he did such a good job.”
This wasn’t the first time Matthew had spoken about this. In an appearance on SiriusXFM, he was asked who his ‘dream younger version’ of himself was, and he replied: “Well, it was Zac Efron. But he said no. So, we’ve got to find someone who says yes.”
Since his passing, Zac has clarified that: “I’m honored to hear he was thinking of me to play him ... I’d be honored to do it.”
He said that Matthew “was a mentor to me, and we made a really cool film together. I looked up to him, I learned comedic timing from that guy. I mean, when we were filming 17 Again, it was so surreal for me to look across and have him be there, because I’ve learned so much from him, from his whole life.”