It has been announced that Metallica vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield will make his film acting debut in the upcoming Ted Bundy biographical film.
The band shared the announcement on their Facebook page on Monday, writing, “No rest for the wicked here as James spent a few of his days between tour dates in front of the camera once again for Academy-award nominated director Joe Berlinger as he filmed scenes for Joe’s upcoming film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile.”
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While the heavy metal musician has appeared as himself in many other projects this will be his first time formally acting.
In the past he has done voices for animated TV series’ such as Skylanders Academy, Metalocalypse, and Dave the Barbarian.
As previously mentioned, the movie is directed by Joe Berlinger, who, in addition to making the Paradise Lost documentary trilogy, also made the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster.
While Berlinger is most well-known for his work making documentary films, he has worked on scripted projects in the past, such as the 2000 film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.
According to the bands Facebook post, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile is about “the relationship between notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, played by Zac Efron, and his longtime girlfriend, played by Lily Collins, who at the time, had no knowledge of the crimes.”
“James will be playing Officer Bob Hayward, a Utah highway patrol veteran who was the first law enforcement officer to arrest Bundy in 1975 after pulling the killer over and discovering burglary tools in his car but wisely suspecting much worse,” the post adds about Hetfield’s role.
In addition to Hetfield, Efron and Collins, the film will also star John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Jim Parsons, and Haley Joel Osment.
While Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile sounds like a very out-of-character film for Efron who first took the world by storm as a teen-heartthrob in High School Musical, he has actually been taking on more roles that push the boundaries of what fans expect of him.
Photos recently surfaced of his costume design for the new Harmony Korine film The Beach Bum, and it has had people talking.
Bless you, Harmony Korine. pic.twitter.com/LT2y485N0y
— Nigel M. Smith (@nigelmfs) February 12, 2018
In the photos, Efron can be seen with highlighted pompadour-like hair and lines shaved into his beard form his ear to his chin. He appears to be rocking a sort-of crust-punk style, but with a religious twist.
Looking closely, it’s noticeable that the patches on his cut off, spiked denim vest say things like, “Prayer Warrior,” “I’m not perfect just forgiven,” and “Jesus is Lord.”
While little is known about The Beach Bum, it is deducible that Efron’s character will be some sort of born-again punk.
