Zac Efron Reflects on Filming Beloved 'High School Musical' Scene

The actor revealed that he 'really drilled all those shots' in the iconic 'Get'cha Head in the Game' basketball sequence in the 2006 movie.

By Allison Schonter

Nearly 20 years after taking on the role of star basketball player Troy Bolton in Disney's High School Musical, there is still one scene from the hit movie that Zac Efron is extremely "proud" of. Sitting down with Vanity Fair in a new interview released on July 2, Efron revisited some of the most iconic films from his decades-long career, including his iconic "Get'cha Head in the Game" basketball sequence from High School Musical.

"First thing that comes to mind is I really drilled all of those shots. There's no CGI in there. I don't think we had the budget for that. So that makes me feel good," Efron said as he watched the clip. "That just takes me back to where all of us were at, all the young men on that team. We were so young and so incredibly motivated."

Released in 2006, High School Musical takes place at East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico and centers around Efron's Troy and new student Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) and their blossoming romance. In the "Get'cha Head in the Game" scene, Troy and his fellow East High School basketball players sing and dance, all while performing basketball stunts. According to Efron, he and his cast mates managed to pull the scene off in just a few takes and with extremely limited rehearsal time.

"Not a lot of people know this, but High School Musical was just a made-for-TV movie and it was a very small, so we had a very condensed shooting schedule. There was very limited rehearsal time," the The Iron Claw actor shared. "Our choreographer, Chucky, is actually in that shot. And Kenny Ortega had pretty big ambitions for this movie, but I think he was pleasantly surprised when all the boys were excited to not only fulfill what he wanted, but to take it one step further."

According to Efron, he and the other actors in the scene "might have practiced for two days prior" to shooting the scene, and they had "maybe two, three hour rehearsals with basketballs." Despite the limited rehearsal time, "after like five takes, we nailed it. We got it all in one."

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Efron recalled how he and his co-stars "were blown away, and I think that was the first time all of us went, 'is this gonna be cool?' This felt really cool." The actor called it a "really special moment," sharing that all of these years later, "and I'm still just proud of all those guys for doing that. 'Cause it was hard." He joked that "you can't predict where a basketball is going. A lot of people got hit in the face. It was hilarious, man. It's so funny."

High School Musical helped launch Efron to stardom and sparked an entire franchise. The 2006 Disney Channel Original Movie was followed in 2007 by High School Musical 2 and in 2008 by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Efron returning for both films. He did not appear in 2011's Sharpay's Fabulous Life. In 2019, Disney also debuted the series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a mockumentary musical drama inspired by the film series.

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