Zac Efron has decided that he doesn’t want to be typecast as “that cute tween heartthrob who sings and dances,” and has dropped out of the remake of Footloose, which has been in the works since last July. The budget was $20 million and was supposed to start filming this spring, but he’s left the movie in the lurch. Zac’s whole persona is based on musicals. He made his start in one (the High School Musical franchise), solidified his career in a musical (Hairspray), and is dating a girl who fancies herself a singer (Vanessa Hudgens). He starred in Me and Orson Wells with Claire Danes (not a musical), and it was supposed to come out last year, but for some reason hasn’t been released yet – it’s probably just that bad.

Efron told the studio last week that he did not want to do another musical at this point in his career, according to a senior member of the production team.

The team member told TheWrap that Efron had script approval on the movie and used a rewrite on the screenplay as the loophole to get out of his contract: “People had been working on this project since last July — we were all shocked.”

A Paramount spokesman could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

Despite occasional serious roles in film and television series such as “NCIS” and “CSI: Miami,” Efron has earned superstar status by singing and dancing as Troy Bolton in the HSM series, the first two for television, the third a wide-release feature. He also played a singing, dancing teen in the 2007 musical “Hairspray,’’ a remake of the 1988 John Waters’ film, which became a Broadway musical.

And earlier this month, along with his “HSM” co-star and occasional girl friend, Vanessa Hudgens, he joined Hugh Jackson in a song and dance number during the Academy Award presentations.

Seems enough of that is enough for the young actor.

Efron’s effort to play a more serious role was slated to get a big boost last year with the release of “Me and Orson Welles,” a drama with Claire Danes, directed by Richard Linklater, in which he plays a Broadway actor who has a chance meeting with Welles in 1937. The film, scheduled for 2008, has not yet been released.

The new “Footloose,” a remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon starrer, was to be directed by Kenny Ortega, who directed all three “High School Musicals” and was slated to begin shooting this spring in Atlanta, with a targeted release date in 2010. The budget was well over $20 million.

[From The Wrap]

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Zac Efron. I understand not wanting to be typecast, but he’s just not a very good as an actor. Sure, he’s charming and pretty cute, but that’s where the star potential stops. On the other hand, he can sing and dance. Maybe the next movie he chooses shouldn’t be a musical; but it’s not good form to leave a movie because it doesn’t fit into his life plan. If there was one phrase I would not normally use to describe Zac, it would be “diva.” But with this move, he’s definitely proving himself to be one.

Here’s Zac Efron at the premiere of ’17 Again’ in Sydney on March 11th. Images thanks to WENN .