Zac Efron’s Ted Bundy Film Finds a Home at Netflix After Sundance Premiere
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile has officially found a home. The drama, which finds Zac Efron stepping into the role of Ted Bundy, was picked up by Netflix in an impressive post-Sundance deal for $9 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The streaming service is the perfect place for Extremely Wicked as the film’s director Joe Berlinger is the brains behind Netflix’s popular Ted Bundy Tapes docuseries that is currently available to users.
Since its premiere at the festival, critics and outlets have been praising Zac Efron’s portrayal of the notorious serial killer, claiming its a “career-best” for the High School Musical alum and Netflix seems to agree as they plan to give it a limited theatrical release during awards season later this year as well.
[row]“He’s startlingly good: controlled, magnetic, audacious, committed, and eerily right. With his hair grown out into a sort of Bert Convy ‘do, Efron looks the part just fine, and he uses his insidious charisma to grab us from the start,” Owen Gleiberman said of Efron in his review for Variety.[/row]
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is told from the perspective of Bundy’s girlfriend Liz Kloepfer (Lily Collins), who was with him for years, living in constant denial of the gruesome accusations before she eventually turned him in. It was only towards the end of his trial that Bundy began speaking in detail about the heinous and grizzly crimes he committed, shocking both Kloepfer and the world.
In addition to Efron and Collins, Extremely Wicked will also star John Malkovich as Judge Edward Cowart, who presided over Bundy’s highly televised murder trial in 1979, Jim Parsons as Larry Simpson -the lead prosecutor, and Maze Runner’s Kaya Scodelario as Bundy’s ex-wife Carole Anne Boone. It will be directed by Joe Berlinger, who also directed Netflix’s latest Ted Bundy documentary. You can watch the trailer for the film below!
Are you excited to see Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile will have a home at Netflix?
Having studied Media & Writing at James Madison University, I always knew that I wanted to do some type of creative writing, but being able to write about zombies, Starks, and superheroes on a daily basis for Fan Fest is my actual dream. While I probably shouldn’t be as proud as I am to be so similar to Nick Miller, I do hope to one day write my own “Pepperwood Chronicles’.
