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STORY: American film star Zac Efron said on Thursday (December 15) kissing Michelle Pfeiffer in his latest film was a dream come true.
Efron, known in Japan mainly for his teen idol roles in films such as "High School Musical" and "Charlie St. Cloud", traveled to Japan to promote new Hollywood romance "New Year's Eve" this week.
A follow-up to director Gary Marshall's $216 million (USD) global hit "Valentine's Day," the holiday movie stars Zac Efron, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Ashton Kutcher, Hilary Swank, Sofia Vergara, Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl, Sarah Jessica Parker, and many more brand names in smaller roles or fleeting cameos.
In a series of inter-connected stories and characters set against the backdrop of New Year's Eve and the ball drop at New York's Times Square, characters look for love and meaning in their lives as they approach the time where one year becomes history and another opens to possibilities.
The reunion between co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Efron was a welcome one, they had previously co-starred in "High School Musical" and Efron was excited to be working with Pfeiffer again.
The love story focusing on Paul, played by Efron and Ingrid, played by Michelle Pfeiffer also included a romantic on-screen New Year's kiss, which Efron says he nervously practiced for beforehand.
"My favorite moment has to be kissing Michelle just because I kinda was nervous about it and I had thought about how it was going to happen so I was practicing by myself without her. And I imagined it going down very, very perfect," Efron said.
A dynamic year for Japan and the rest of the world, the film touches on creating magic and chance in the unlikeliness of circumstances for happiness and true love.
Efron felt that the movie's theme touched on the significance of the New Year's Eve holiday as an opportunity for people to move forward and create positive experiences in the new year.
"New Year's Eve" will premier in Japan on December 23.