Zac Efron finally responded to the criticism that his new Ted Bundy movie glamorizes the infamous killer
When the initial trailer for the movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile dropped in January, many viewers noted that the preview seemed to (problematically) glamorize Zac Efron as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. Now, Efron is responding to the backlash and defending the film as a whole.
In an April 30th appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actor clarified that he did not want to make Bundy seem “cool.” DeGeneres noted that the film was shot from the perspective of Bundy’s longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, to show why so many people believed he was innocent (when he was, in fact, very, very guilty), and Efron agreed that that is the point of the movie.
"The goal was a very challenging one, and I'm thrilled that it turned out the way that it did," Efron said. "I am not into portraying a serial killer or anybody of this nature or glamorizing them in any way."
He went on to characterize the film as an “introspective, intelligent” examination of Bundy, his romantic relationship, and the reasons why so many people wanted to believe he was innocent. He even touched on the fact that the killer’s white privilege helped him evade suspicion for so long.
"Ted Bundy was a clean-cut white dude, white person—so talk about white privilege," Efron said. "What he got away with back then, nobody would be able to do today. It's a moment in time that came and passed and is truly scary, but [the movie] does not glamorize the killing."
Watch Efron’s full comments below.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile arrives on Netflix on May 3rd, and it looks like we’ll have to wait until then to form our opinion.
