Further proving that the Australian outback makes a brilliant setting for bone-chilling thrillers (see: Wolf Creek, Road Games, Black Water et al), the first trailer for Zac Efron’s next film, Gold, has been released.
- READ MORE: Zac Efron’s ‘Down To Earth’ shows it’s time to put celebrity travelogues on a no-fly list
The Stan original film stars Efron and Anthony Hayes – the latter of whom also directed, co-wrote and produced the film – as drifters that stumble upon a massive hunk of gold in the middle of a barren desert. Per the official synopsis, “They hatch a plan to protect and excavate their bounty with [Efron’s character] leaving to secure the necessary equipment to pull it out of the earth.”
Efron’s character – whose name is yet to be unveiled – “must endure harsh desert elements, preying wild dogs and mysterious intruders, whilst battling the sinking suspicion that he has been abandoned to his own fate”. Wentworth mainstay Susie Porter stars as one of those mysterious intruders, who appears well-weathered by the desert heat chipping away at Efron’s sanity.
Check out the first trailer for Gold below:
Co-funded by the government’s Screen Australia program, Gold will hit local cinemas on January 13, before streaming on Stan come January 26. Madman Entertainment will handle its theatrical distribution locally.
Earlier this year, Efron was honoured with the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program Host, earning the gong for his Netflix docuseries Down To Earth. NME‘s Gary Ryan was more critical in its analysis of the series, saying: “Like a lot of celebrity travelogues, [Down To Earth is] pitched so low-brow it makes Donald Trump’s Person.Woman.Man.Camera.TV cognitive test look like Alan Turning’s Enigma Code.”
Recommended
In 2019, Efron was rushed to hospital after contracting a deadly illness while filming in Papua New Guinea. Reports claimed that he suffered a “form of typhoid or similar bacterial infection” that triggered “a life or death medical emergency” in the days leading up to Christmas.