Zac Efron decided to change up his look on Thursday, posting a photo of himself on a beach in dreadlocks.
“Just for fun,” Efron wrote in the caption.
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Fans seemed to notice the High School Musical star’s style change, as the photo generated nearly a million likes in a matter of hours. The reaction however was noticeably mixed, with some saying it was unnecessary, while others wondered if it was cultural appropriation.
“This is so sad,” one fan wrote. “Alexa play ‘Get Your Head in the Game’ (a song from Efron’s 2006 film High School Musical).”
“Oh no baby, WHAT is you doing,” wrote another.
This isn’t the first major transformation Efron has undergone this year. Photos of the Neighbors actor for director Harmony Korine’s upcoming film The Beach Bum hit the web back in February, showing Efron with blond-highlighter pompadour-ish hair and and bear that had lines shaved into it. Along with the look he also had a new outfit that mashed together punk rock with Christian symbolism.
The 30-year-old actor has seen his fame skyrocket in recent years following his days as a child actor. Some of his recent film credits in The Greatest Showman, The Disaster Artist, Baywatch, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Neighbors and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.
The Beach Bum is currently in post-production and is set to be released theatrically later in 2018.
Another of Efron’s upcoming films, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile sees the actor take on the role of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy in a biographical crime thriller told from the point of view of his longtime girlfriend (played by Angela Sarafyan).
Reports began to spread back in April that Efron was in a budding relationship his Baywatch co-star Alexandra Daddario.
A source at PEOPLE said at the time the two had been dating “on and off since their time working together on the movie last year, but they are not officially dating.”
A separate source for Hollywood Life said, “Alexandra is all in with Zac but not all in about telling anyone about it,” the source said. “She was very coy about it at the Rampage premiere to friends and her fellow Baywatch co-star The Rock has even been kept in the dark about it.”
Daddario responded to the rumors in late May, emphasizing the two were just close friends.
“We’re very good friends,” she told PEOPLE. “Zac and I’ve worked together, and we’re very good friends.
