Zac Efron will embrace ’80s sleaze as he’s reportedly in talks to star in Night Business adaptation from Ti West

With the release of MaXXXine less than two months away, Ti West is setting up his next project, which sounds like another helping of pure ’80s sleaze. According to scooper Daniel Richtman, Zac Efron is reportedly in talks to star in Night Business, a series adaptation of the cult graphic novel by Benjamin Marra, which Ti West will direct.

A24 will produce the Night Business series with Nathaniel Halpern (Legion) writing the script and serving as showrunner. Here’s the logline: “In this 1980s-trash-culture homage where a knife-wielding killer is on the loose, committing extreme acts of violence on exotic dancers. Only one man has a will powerful enough to stop this psychopath: Johnny Timothy. But can Johnny mete out his vengeance before more innocent victims have to die? A nasty brew of power, passion, vigilantes, and dangerous men raining street justice down upon their enemies.” Zac Efron would play Johnny Timothy, the man with two first names.

Night Business sounds like it could be a wild ride, and a team-up between Ti West and Zac Efron has a lot of potential. I’ve always been a fan of West, but Efron has really been stretching his acting muscles lately, particularly with his outstanding performance in The Iron Claw.

As for MaXXXine, the latest installment of the X franchise takes place in 1980s Hollywood, where adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) finally gets her big break. But as a mystery killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.

There have been rumblings that the sequel is a “good old whodunit slasher,” but Goth has teased that she views MaXXXine as more of a superhero movie. “That’s how I read the script,” Goth said. “Maxine, as a character, has come a long way. She’s a survivor, she’s gone through a lot. When we meet her again, in this new world that she’s in, she’s really fought for everything that she has, and she’s not about to give that up. She’s going to fight for what she has. She’s a badass. There’s a strength to her. And she’s a really proactive, determined, focused woman. She goes after what she wants, and she’s not really going to take no for an answer.” MaXXXine will hit theaters on July 5th, and it’s possible the franchise could continue should the film prove to be a success.