Not only is our young "High School Musical" star turning 21 this weekend, but it has also been announced that Zac Efron will be joining the cast of Johnny Depp's new "Pirates Of The Caribbean 4" movie.Disney will be paying Efron an estimated $10 million for his role, almost twice as much as he pulled in singing and dancing with his fellow Wildcats.
A source tells us that Depp was not initially interested in another run as Jack Sparrow, and that Disney approached Efron to take over the helm.
After some intense negations, Depp agreed to return for another film for an enormous $55 million paycheck. This may be the highest salary every paid to an actor for a movie role.
But it is not like either one has to worry about losing their job.
Johnny Depp has six projects in the works. The first to hit the big screen will be "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", starring Depp, the late Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, in a story about a traveling theater company that gives its audience much more than they were expecting.
Depp is currently filming the animated family adventure 'Alice In Wonderland", a live-action and CGI version of the classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" story.
For his part, Efron will be seen later this month in the teen hit "High School Musical 3 - Senior Year", where as seniors in high school, Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.
Related: Watch Zac Efron Get Punked On The Set Of HSM 3 - Video
Related: Vanessa Ann Hudgens Introduces New HSM 3 Music Video
Zac has also just complete work on the comedy "17 Again", due next April and starring Efron and Matthew Perry, about a guy whose life does not quite turn out the way he wanted, and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life.
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