Zac Efron praised the late Matthew Perry during a speech at the Hollywood Walk of Fame – as it was revealed the Friends actor wanted him to play him if there was ever a biopic on his life.
The High School Musical star, 36, was honoured with a star on the famous path, which he described as “so surreal”.
The pair worked on 2009 teen comedy 17 Again, where a 37-year-old man, played by Perry, magically transforms into his 17-year-old self, Efron.
“I really also want to mention someone that is not here today, and that’s Matthew Perry, who was so kind and generous with me when we worked on 17 Again,” Efron said.
Image: Matthew Perry and Zac Efron on the set of 17 Again. Pic: Offspring Ent/Kobal/Shutterstock
“Collaborating with him… it was so much fun and it really did propel me and motivate me in so many ways. It really pushed me into the next chapter of my career, for that, thank you so much Matthew.
“Thinking about you a lot today.”
The actor Miles Teller, who starred alongside Efron in romantic comedy That Awkward Moment in 2014, later revealed that Perry also admired Efron.
Image: Zac Efron and Miles Teller. Pic: AP
“Matthew Perry had since said that he was so impressed with your comedic abilities working with him that he said if there was ever to be a biopic on him, he would want you to play him,” Teller said at the event in Los Angeles.
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“And I know how much that meant to you. He’s one of the all-time greats.”
Efron, who shot to fame for his role as Troy Bolton in Disney’s High School Musical trilogy, also said he is “eternally grateful” to the director Kenny Ortega, who was sat in the audience.
Image: Pic: AP
“I still think about it everyday, I still sing the songs in the shower. Go Wildcats,” he said.
The actor has since enjoyed a varied career, from starring as serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, to acting alongside Hugh Jackman in hit musical film The Greatest Showman.
He is about to star in the upcoming film The Iron Claw opposite The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White, which tells the true story of the Von Erich brothers who made history in the wrestling world.
An American Airlines flight travelling from New York to New Delhi was diverted midair due to a “bomb threat”.
Flight 292 landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport “due to a possible security issue,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday, adding later the threat “was determined to be non-credible”.
The airline did not clarify what the security issue was, but a source familiar with the situation told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News it was a bomb threat sent via email.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported the security issue.
“Safety and security are our top priorities, and we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience,” the airline said in a statement.
Image: The view from the cockpit of the fighter jet. Pic: Italian air force/Reuters
Image: Pic: Italian air force/Reuters
The flight requested a diversion to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport at around 2pm local time, Roberto Rao, a spokesperson for the airport.
“We immediately agreed and organised a safe landing,” Mr Rao told NBC News.
“We don’t know what the security concern was, but my opinion is that it was serious enough to divert the plane, but not urgent, because we received the alert when the plane was over the Caspian Sea, a three hours’ flight from Rome.”
Once in Italian airspace, the plane was escorted by two Italian air force fighter jets and landed in Rome at around 5.30pm local time.
Image: The flight on the ground in Rome. Pic: AP
‘What’s going on here?’
Neeraj Chopra, one of the 199 passengers on board, said the captain announced the plane had to turn around about three hours before it was supposed to land in New Delhi because of a change in “security status”.
Mr Chopra, who was traveling to India to visit family, described the mood on board as calm until the captain later announced that fighter jets would be escorting their plane to Rome.
“I felt a little panic of, okay, what’s going on here?” Mr Chopra told the Associated Press. “There’s got to be like something bigger going on here.”
Jonathan Bacon, 22, added that once on the ground, all passengers were loaded on to buses and taken to the terminal, where each passenger and their personal items underwent additional security screenings that were time-consuming and felt “slightly heightened”.
More than two hours after landing, Mr Bacon and his friend said they were still waiting for their checked baggage. “It was definitely the longest flight to Europe I’ve ever taken,” he said.
American Airlines said the plane was inspected and cleared to depart again for New Delhi “as soon as possible” on Monday, after the crew gets some rest.
At least three people have died and two are injured after a boat capsized off the coast of New York, police in the US have said.
The vessel sent out a distress call from the Ambrose Channel just after noon on Sunday.
One of the injured is in a critical condition and another is described as stable, NBC, Sky’s US partner, said.
Five people were rescued from the water after the New York Fire Department (FDNY), the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the US Coast Guard responded to the call for help.
The boat capsized in an area known as Breezy Point, NBC said, quoting the NYPD.
Breezy Point is “a neighborhood at the tip of Queens’ Rockaway peninsula,” according to NBC New York, citing the Coast Guard.
Six people were said to be in the water after the boat capsized, the FDNY said.
Two of the victims were airlifted to Staten Island University Hospital and three were taken to Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook, where its emergency medical crews were waiting to treat them, the agency said.
Four of the five people rescued from the sinking boat were unresponsive, and some of them were given CPR, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said on Sunday night it is still searching for one person missing in the water roughly five miles (8km) southeast of Breezy Point.
Nothing else is known about the victims or what kind of boat was involved.
Police said it is not clear what happened but it did not appear the vessel collided with another boat. The Coast Guard said it was notified of a “vessel taking on water” and described the boat as “sinking”.
As President Trump claims he is “close” to signing a mining deal with Ukraine, and his secretary of state Marco Rubio talks about a lack of “gratitude” from President Zelenskyy for US military assistance, our US correspondents Mark Stone, Martha Kelner and James Matthews discuss if this is the real reason Trump’s administration appears to have turned its back on Ukraine.
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