Gold: Zac Efron to star in epic Australian survival thriller

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

A lot of people say that money can change a person, and, more often than not, it's not for the better. Let's say you found the largest gold nugget ever discovered. How would you change? What manner of unseemly emotions would come pouring out of you? That's what Zac Efron is about to find out when he stars in the upcoming Australian survival thriller GOLD.

The newly-announced film project hails from Animal Kingdom and The Light Between Oceans actor Anthony Hayes, who will co-star and direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Polly Smyth.

Shopped to buyers at next week’s American Film Market (AFM), the film revolves around two strangers traveling through a remote desert who stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found. After hatching a plan to excavate the treasure, one leaves to secure equipment while the other stays behind to protect the discovery – battling the suspicion he has been abandoned. In addition to his own paranoia, the man who stayed behind is forced to contend with harsh desert elements, ravenous wild dogs, and mysterious intruders, all while hoping to protect a life-changing discovery.

"This is an exciting, gripping, and timely tale about greed, humanity, who we are, what we’ve done to the world, and where we are heading if we aren’t careful," said Hayes. "To have Zac Efron as my main man on this film is an absolute gift and to see what he is creating already is like nothing we’ve seen from him before. I can’t wait to deliver this bold, visceral, and cinematic film to audiences all around the world."

Hot damn. This sounds gripping as hell, and I'll be damned if Efron hasn't turned into quite the leading man in recent years. I'll be excited to see what Efron and Hayes bring to this gripping premise when the film is unearthed sometime down the road.