“On the eve of my 26th birthday, I expressed my desire to watch High School Musical 3, my favorite of the trilogy. It holds a special place in my heart, as I saw it in theaters shortly after my 10th birthday.As a Gen Z, High School Musical was a significant part of my childhood. I considered myself a die-hard fan, believing I knew everything about the franchise.
However, reading Ashley Spencer’s Disney High, which delves into the making of these iconic Disney Channel productions, completely surprised me with its wealth of previously unknown behind-the-scenes information.”
So, from on-set tensions to scrapped story ideas, here’s a roundup of the best behind-the-scenes details I learned about the making of the High School Musical movies, revealed by the people who were there.
1.The initial idea came from a somber Disney movie set around 9/11
2.A real-life NFL star inspired Troy Bolton’s sports storyline, which was added to draw in more male viewers
3.The music was originally going to be covers of ‘70s and ‘80s hits
4.Gabriella Montez was named after the writer’s daughter
5.It could’ve been Middle School Musical
6.High School Musical was just a placeholder title that stuck
7.Kenny Ortega was kind of in his flop era when he signed on to direct
8.Corbin Bleu’s basketball skills needed help
9.Jesse McCartney was first offered the part of Troy
Before auditions even started, Jesse was the first person on the casting list for Tory. However, he apparently wound up rejecting the offer because he didn’t want to be seen as a “Disney star.”
10.Some executives weren’t sold on Zac Efron, but he got the part anyway
11.Zac was instructed to close the gap in his front teeth before filming began
When he auditioned, Zac’s tooth gap was apparently a concern among executives. After casting him, Kenny told the team: “You don’t like his teeth, we’ll fix his teeth.” In turn, Zac arrived on set in July 2005 with a new haircut and no gap between his front teeth.
12.Drew Seeley was too good at singing
13.The East High Wildcats were originally Leopards
14.Zac broke
up with his girlfriend during rehearsals
15.The president of Disney Channel cried while watching Zac and Vanessa perform “The Start Of Something New”
16.Bob Iger was so impressed with the early footage of HSM that he increased Disney Channel’s movie marketing budget
17.There was no official premiere for HSM1
18.Apart from Ashley Tisdale, none of the actors had media training before promoting the first movie
19.Producers on HSM2 reprimanded Lucas Grabeel on set for saying he took a Vicodin
20.Kenny Ortega was apparently “out of control” while making HSM2
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