Zac Efron Is Bringing a Horror Classic Back to Life in a New HBO and A24 Series

Well, here’s one I wasn’t expecting: Zac Efron — yes, the lad from High School Musical and, more recently, The Iron Claw — has just inked a deal to headline a new HBO series produced by A24. Now, that’s already a bit of a swerve for Efron, considering his telly work has mostly been popping up as himself in ‘The Studio’. This new job is a proper leading role, mind. And get this — the show is based on Angel Heart, that peculiar 1987 horror noir which originally starred Robert De Niro. If you know the film, you know it’s one of those cult favourites with a bit of a dark edge. If you don’t, let’s get you caught up.

What’s the Deal with HBO’s Angel Heart Series?

The basics: HBO and A24 are pulling from the 1987 film (which itself is adapted from William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel, Falling Angel) for a new take — so no direct remake, but definitely dredging up the original’s oddball atmosphere. Zach Baylin, who created Black Rabbit, is doing the writing. Directing duties for multiple episodes are down to Jonathan van Tulleken, who just worked on Shogun.

The casting is pretty much all about Efron for now, though there’s plenty happening behind the camera. It’s thick with executive producers — that’s Efron himself, Baylin, van Tulleken, Kate Susman (Youngblood Pictures), Marc Toberoff, Max Hjortsberg, Lorca Hjortsberg, Alice P. Neuhauser, Joe Hipps (Cut To), Stuart Manashil, Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss. Not a short list, is it?

What’s the Story This Time?

• Main character is a washed-up paparazzo in New York City, scraping by snapping photos of people who’d rather stay lost.
• This bloke gets hired by someone rather mysterious — the classic ‘person in the shadows’ sort — to track down a woman who’s gone missing.
• As he digs, it’s clear there’s something wonky going on. Reports suggest he stumbles into a web involving powerful elites, and maybe, just maybe, some supernatural stuff lurking beneath.

If you’re wondering how it compares: the original film, written and directed by Alan Parker, starred a pre-puffy Mickey Rourke as the detective, with De Niro giving one of his weirder performances, alongside Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling. The movie landed with a bit of a thud at first — mixed reviews and all that — but it’s picked up a fair amount of cult credibility since. At the moment, Angel Heart is cracking along at an 82% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not bad at all, retrospectively.

The new series is being billed as ‘a new take’, so don’t expect a scene-by-scene rehash, but the bones of the story — gumshoe, vanished woman, sins seeping through the cracks of high society — seem very much intact. No word yet on who’ll be joining Efron or when it’s actually hitting screens, but clearly HBO and A24 reckon there’s something still beating in the heart of this odd horror-noir story.

‘The series will follow a down-and-out NYC paparazzi, who makes his living finding and photographing people who don't want to be found, who is hired by a mysterious man to find a missing woman. But the deeper he digs to find her, the more it looks like a group of powerful elites, and maybe something supernatural, is covering up the disappearance.’