Zac Efron’s Next Movie Is ‘King Of The Jungle’

It’s not everyday one sees a magazine article get adapted into a full-blown silver screen comedic epic. From the Emmy-winning minds of “American Crime Story” writer pair Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, along with “Crazy, Stupid, Love” directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa comes a true story about tech security software wizard John McAfee.

While he won’t be playing the creator and designer of the McAfee Antivirus software, Zach Efron will be a Wired magazine reporter by the name of Ari Furman, as reported by Deadline. Efron as Furman will take on what appears to be a typical interview, only it’s in the middle of the Belize jungle with a man who is slowly but surely losing his mind.

Though the real-life occurrences and a few names may have been changed to fit the needs of a film-based narrative, “King of the Jungle” still follows the same story as reported by Joshua Davis in his Wired magazine profile of the tech wiz, coined “John McAfee’s Last Stand.”

In the article, Davis discusses the nature of McAfee’s swirling descent into madness and paranoia following his loss of millions in the stock market. The tech entrepreneur soon thereafter flew the coop for the tropical paradise of Belize.

Though, life wasn’t all so peaceful and quaint as McAfee soon became acquainted with known killers, prostitutes, and drug peddlers. The once-cocaine addict found himself spiraling into a hole that he would find near impossible to escape from, but the eccentric software pioneer would eventually find peace and later even ran for president of the United States.

The movie was initially supposed to have Seth Rogen in the shoes of Furman alongside Michael Keaton as the titular McAfee, but those plans fell through. With Efron instead starring as the Wired journalist, the film will attempt to mirror its real-life counterpart as best as possible while integrating a highly comedic tone to the rather serious experiences.

Efron has maintained a relatively busy schedule as well as exemplified a cultured appetite for varied performances. His most recent work speaks for itself, appearing as Ted Bundy in Netflix’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile,” as well as even lending his voice for an animated Scooby-Doo cartoon for Warner Bros’ “Scoob” as Fred Jones.

It’s unclear when “King of the Jungle” will hit theaters, though a 2020 release is highly likely.