In a TV interview Monique Coleman talks about film making, romance and High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Since HSM3 has not slowed down much at the box office, we thought we should see what one of the films' stars, one who is not interviewed quite as much as Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are, has to say about the film trilogy.
Monique, who turns 28 years old on November 13th, plays Taylor McKessie in the HSM trilogy. Taylor is the best friend of the brainy Gabriella Montez, who is played by Vanessa Hudgens.
Even though she is 28, Monique can easily pass for a high school senior, which is essential for her role since HSM takes place at East High School.
Monique boasts an extensive singing and dance background so she definitely fits right in with the rest of the HSM cast. Monique also insists that she is not dating Corbin Bleu, like so many of the tabloids claim.
Teen heartthrob and movie star Zac Efron was attacked in London on Wednesday night by what some described as a "deranged fan."
Zac, the star of Disney's High School Musical (HSM) series was exiting the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in London's West End theater district with his long time girl friend and HSM co-star, Vanessa Hudgens. They had just watchedRain Man starring Josh Hartnett.
Suddenly an unlikely fan, a spectacled middle-aged man, began shouting loudly and pointing his finger at Zac. The man, who was quite close to Zac at the time, then lunged for Zac and tried to grab either Zac or his hair.
Fortunately for Zac, a security guard was near enough to step in the way of the attacking man. The guard placed himself between the man and Zac so the hot heartthrob was able to avoid any injury.
Had the security guard not been so close, there is no telling what might have happened. The attacker carried a laptop computer under his left arm and reached for Zac with his right.
Zac is used to throngs of teen-age girls swooning and screaming at him whenever he is seen in public, so the thought of a middle-aged man lunging at him is not something Zac is used to or probably cares to get used to.
It was definitely a taste of the dark side for Zac because one never knows what one lone man is capable of when he is near a celebrity. Thoughts of the death of John Lennon drift in when something like this happens.
According to one witness to the incident, "Some guy was just stood (sic) near the door where Zac and Vanessa emerged.
"He just reached over and grabbed the side of Zac's head. There was no provocation. It all turned into a bit of a mess.
"He was shouting all kinds of things at Zac. Their security team eventually dealt with it. They had to bundle Zac into a car, but at one point it looked as though the man was going to be pushed into it with him."
Zac was unhurt during the incident, and the man was initially held by the security staff but was then released. No one reported the attack to the police, which means that the security staff apparently believed that the man was not really so "deranged" after all.
It appears that the incident did not ruffle the young film star who portrays Troy Bolton in High School Musical 3, which is to be released in US theaters on October 24th.
Zac, Vanessa, Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu are all in the cast of High School Musical 3, and they were all in London for the film's London premiere, which occurred Tuesday night.
Zac, Vanessa and entourage were spotted eating together at the Floridita restaurant in Soho later that evening.
One of the restaurant's patrons said Zac "was quite relaxed and looked like he was enjoying himself."
"Some of them were dancing to salsa music, so they must have put the scuffle out of their minds."
High School Musical 3: Senior Year is scheduled to hit the big screen in October, and filming is scheduled to be completed by the end of June. But some of us just cannot wait that long.
So we thought we would share a few tidbits about how filming is going, starting with a video about HSM3 behind the scenes.
At the MTV Movie AwardsPeople magazine interviewed Zac Efron, who plays Troy Bolton in HSM3 and who also won an MTV movie award for best breakthrough performance for his role as the heartthrob, Link Larkin, in the movie, Hairspray.
Zac said it is smooth sailing on the HSM3 set. "When I got there everyone was calm, collected. They were working really hard," Efron said.
"It felt like the first two movies all over again. We just kind of can't go wrong with Kenny Ortega as our director and leader and our great cast and crew. We've got no squabbles to get through."
People asked Zac about the difference between making movies for the Disney Channel and for what will most likely be a blockbuster hit in movie theaters.
“Everything's been stepped up a few notches, all the dances, and I think the songs are pretty catchy this time around," said Zac.
"And it's our senior year, so we've got graduation and prom to look forward to. All fun things to have in a movie.”
As for the fairy tale romance between Zac and his co-star in HSM3, Vanessa Hudgens, who plays the brainy Gabriella Montez, it is still going strong. Zac and Vanessa were seen together at a Utah Jazz basketball game during a break from filming HSM3.
They certainly look cozy in the photo.
Vanessa is hitting the big time in stride, having been named as one of People Magazine's 100 most beautiful people of 2008. She showed up for the People photo shoot sans makeup.
Said Vanessa, “just recently I’ve learned to be okay with myself without wearing makeup…I started taking care of my skin and realized I didn’t need as much as I thought I did.”
Vanessa has also released her new album, Identified. Vanessa revealed, “This time I did what I wanted to do. I always had a knack for a more soulful, jazzy sound, so right off the bat I wanted to kind of let loose, and come up with a sound no one has heard from me before.”
HSM3 director is Kenny Ortega, who also directed both of the previous HSMs.
Ortega gives credit for his skills to his mentor, Gene Kelly. Said Ortega, “one great thing I learned from Gene Kelly was how to design choreography for the camera versus designing choreography for the stage. Gene used to say there should be a raison d’etre—a reason for being. What’s at the center of everything?”
Our second video is an interview by Access Hollywood with Vanessa Hudgens on the set of HMS3:
Disney has announced that there will be a High School Musical 4. Disney Channel Worldwide President Rich Ross told MTV, "We are writing High School Musical 4."
Ross said that Disney may not convince the complete original cast to return for a fourth go at HSM. "Are we going to have all the cast back? Probably not. Will we have some of them? I hope so."
Video #3 is an interview by Access Hollywood with Ashley Tisdale, who plays Sharpay, on the set of HMS3:
Zac Efron told The Rolling Stone in the summer of 2007 that he was not interested in any more HSM after the coming third installment. He prefered to move on to something new.
"If I had to hear the High School Musical songs anymore," he confessed, "I probably would have jumped off something very tall."
Although HSM may have countless sequels, Zac said he'd "hopefully not" do many more.
Currently, it appears that very few of the cast intend to return to East High for HSM4. “This is probably going to be the last one for a lot of the cast,” Zac told MTV. “It’s graduation, a lot of us have to move on.”
In a TV interview Monique Coleman talks about film making, romance and High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Since HSM3 has not slowed down much at the box office, we thought we should see what one of the films' stars, one who is not interviewed quite as much as Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are, has to say about the film trilogy.
Even though she is 28, Monique can easily pass for a high school senior, which is essential for her role since HSM takes place at East High School.
