Before even being released, it feels like everyone already had very strong opinions about whether or not Zac was the right choice for playing Ted Bundy. Some disagree with the movie being made as a whole because of this casting choice. But when you look into the story of Ted Bundy, it becomes very clear that he was the right casting choice.
I would agree that we should never glorify such horrific people. I can see how choosing a sex icon of an actor to play a serial killer seems to do just that. Here are a few statements from people who had this belief:
Lauren Jauregui: "The romanticization of a serial killer is exactly why these sick fucks continue to do things like this to women."
Kayla Stetzel (via Twitter): "Can we not sexualize Ted Bundy? He raped, murdered, and decapitated women and had sex with their dead bodies. Not here for this hypersexualized Zac Efron film."
But if we got an unattractive and uncharismatic man to play Bundy, the movie just wouldn't be accurate. Some people are mad that this film is "sexualizing" Bundy and making him seem attractive and charming — but that's the whole point. Ted Bundy was able to lure and torture so many women because he was so attractive and charming.
Bundy famously would flirt with women and girls, acting charming and genuine in order to gain their trust. His attractive and seemingly-friendly attributes, plus the fact that he had a long-time girlfriend, allowed him to hover under the radar for as long as he did. Without having been the kind of person he was physically, the odds of him having been so successful as a murderer and being unsuspected would have been far slimmer.
Here's a tweet from John Squires summing it up:
John Squires: "Zac Efron as Ted Bundy is kinda perfect casting cause you can't believe that he could possibly play a terrifying serial killer in the same way you couldn't have looked at Ted Bundy and believed that he "was" a terrifying serial killer."
Not only was he able to charm these women and girls into going away with him, but he also used his charm to fool everyone around him — including his serious girlfriend — into thinking he was just a regular, lovely man. Ted Bundy being sexualized only makes our understanding of him (and other charming serial killers) more clear.
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