Zac Efron is thinking of his late costar Matthew Perry — and hopes to honor him in the future.
“I’m still devastated by the fact that he is gone,” Efron, 36, told Extra on Wednesday, November 8.
Following the Friends’ alum’s passing, his friend Athenna Crosby revealed in an interview with ET Canada that Perry wanted Efron to play a younger version of him in a possible biopic.
“I was hugely honored. It would be extraordinary to do,” Efron said on Wednesday. “We’ll see what happens.”
According to Crosby, Perry said he “was gonna ask [Efron] soon” about the possible role.
In a separate interview with Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday, Efron added: “To think he was thinking of me for that role, I mean I would be honored to do it, to be honest.”
Efron went on to call Perry “the best guy in the world,” telling the outlet, “I had the best time of my life working with him.”
Efron played the younger version of Perry’s character, Mike O’Donnell, in the 2009 movie 17 Again.
News of Perry’s death broke on October 28 after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home. He was found “unconscious in a stand-alone jacuzzi,” the Los Angeles Fire Department told CNN in a statement on October 30.
“A bystander had brought the man’s head above the water and gotten him to the edge, then Firefighters removed him from the water upon their arrival,” the statement continued. “A rapid medical assessment, sadly, revealed the man was deceased prior to first responder arrival.”
Perry’s cause of death has yet to be revealed pending a toxicology report.
According to Crosby, Perry “was in a good state of mind” ahead of his passing, she told Us Weekly exclusively on November 1. She spent time with the actor in the days before his death.
“He was talking the whole time and was super excited to be hanging out. It was great,” she added, noting that he was “talking about his life and sharing with me funny stories about his time in the industry.”
Crosby continued, “He was talking about how excited he was to have a second act and had struggles that inhibited his acting aspirations but had turned it all around and was looking forward to getting back into it full swing.”
In addition to his successful acting career, Perry was dedicated to helping others who struggled with substance abuse.
“When I die, I don’t want Friends to be the first thing that’s mentioned,” Perry told “Q with Tom Power” podcast in November 2022.” I want that to be the first thing that’s mentioned, and I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.”
Our special issue dedicated to Matthew Perry is available now.
