Fan Fare

“Twilight” stars Stewart, Lautner grab Oscar spotlight

Call it Oscar’s equivalent of hiring a really good Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon to nip a wrinkle here and tuck a chin there.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday said four of today’s hottest young actors and actresses — Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron — will be presenters at this year’s ceremony for the world’s top film honors on March 7.

The Oscars have long been the arena of mostly veteran actors and actresses, and that is one reason — albeit not the only reason — the telecast is considered by some to be out-of-touch with mainstream moviegoers who tend to be mostly young. We aren’t so sure that piece of conventional Hollywood wisdom is true, but we do know that when box office hits like  the “Lord of the Rings” movies get a lot of nominations, more people tune in to the telecast than when low-budget dramas such as “No Country for Old Men” walk off with the best movie prize. We also know that “Lord of the Rings” was aimed mostly at young audiences and “No Country” at adults.

So, very likely in an effort to spur young audiences to tune-in, Oscar organizers have signed up the foursome to present. All good, but we’d offer that maybe they didn’t have to. Action adventure “Avatar,” the biggest box office hit of all time, is among the most-nominated films and it, too, was targeted mostly at young audiences.

Zac Efron, Robert Pattinson, not fans of their own movies

Zac Efron, a graduate of Disney’s star machine and teen heart-throb of the “High School Musical” series and “17 Again,” is not the biggest fan of his own movies.

And he’s not the only one. “Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are not exactly talking their own work up either.

With his latest film “Me and Orson Welles” due out next month, Efron told Nylon Guys magazine, “It’s the first time I’ve ever watched a movie (that I’m in) and in the end I’m like, ‘OK! I didn’t check my watch once!”

In fairness to Efron, he is only 21 year-old, so it’s not like he has the long list of movie credits of, say, a Jack Nicholson. Maybe it takes him a while to get warmed up, and he will have some other favorite roles after “Me and Orson Welles.”

But that does not sit well with some Disney fans.  At the Disney fan website, DisneyDreaming.com, they whipped up an article titled “Zac Efron Disappoints Us Again” after his latest comment.

“C’mon Zac Efron, really? We love your movies, and we support all of your roles,” the short article states. “And on top of that, we PAY to watch your movies in theater, purchase them on DVD and buy paraphernalia with your face on it. The LEAST you could do is act like you enjoyed those movies too.”

Wow, who knew those Mickey Mouse ears could be so sharp?

Actors shed tears over “High School Musical”

Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad and Taylor were “all in this together” for almost three years,  so when it came down to the final day of filming for “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”  tears were flowing on set.

The latest movie in the Disney franchise, which opens in the U.S. on Oct. 22, sees the six main characters graduate East High School, and although Disney is already planning a fourth installment in a couple of years time, many of the stars won’t be coming back.

“Knowing it was the last time we’d be together was extremely emotional,” recalled Vanessa Hudgens, who has played math student Gabriella Montez since 2006. “We’ve been through so much together, we have become a really close-knit family.”

“The last day was horrible. We couldn’t stop crying and we had to do one more scene. We were in hair and makeup, crying our eyes out, and the assistant director was saying ‘ we need to go’  and hair and makeup was saying ‘ we can’t get their makeup on them they won’t stop crying’, ” she said.

Zac Efron, 21,  who plays basketball-crazy Troy, said the final graduation scene “was our sign-off”.

 ”It was very emotional, the last day on set. No one was expecting it. We knew it was coming but it was something about that moment — it had such finality.

“ It felt like we were closing a curtain with the biggest performance of our lives yet to come,” Efron said.

High School Musical sweethearts keep silent on off-screen romance

There’s plenty of sweet on-screen romance between Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez in upcoming  “High School Musical 3″.

But don’t try asking actors Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens to spill the beans on their  real-life romance of more than a year.

In the movie, opening in the U.S. and much of Europe next week, teen sweethearts Troy and Gabriella waltz on a rooftop garden, hold hands in a garden hammock, and gaze at the stars from a treehouse while they navigate their senior year of high school and the prospect of college in separate cities.

And that’s before they even exchange a kiss.

Yet Efron, who turns 21 on Oct. 18, and Hudgens, 19,  declined to be interviewed together during press promotions in Beverly Hills this week, and both fended off questions about their own future together.

“It’s just so much easier not talking about it. I told myself that a long time ago,” Efron said shyly of the relationship.  “Troy and Gabriella are very much like real high school kids. It’s what high school romance should be like — not too lustful.

“I’ve always said that Troy and Gabriella were best friends before being boyfriend and girlfriend,” he added.

Disney says no to ‘Musical’ panties

Disney said on Friday that it has stopped selling a line of panties for girls after parents in Britain complained about the message printed on them.

The  underwear, made for ‘tween girls, invited the the reader  to  ”Dive In” and was, according to company officials, themed for a swimming pool scene from the Disney Channel hit movie,”High School Musical 2.”

Ahh to have been in that product brainstorming session!

In that scene, “HSM2″ boyfriend and girlfriend, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, sing about their love and dance in and around a swimming pool at the country club where both of their characters work during the summer.

“Unfortunately, an oversight was made and the text on the underwear was used out context,” Disney said in a statement. “This product will not be part of any forthcoming collections and the remaining product has been removed from shelves.”