Last February, news broke that Metallica's James Hetfield would be starring alongside Zac Efron in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, a thriller about notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. Efron plays the mass murderer, while Hetfield took on the role of Bob Hayward, the Utah highway trooper who first arrested Bundy in 1975. Later this month, attendees of the Sundance Film Festival, where the movie is set to make its world debut, will finally get to see what we've been dying to witness: James Hetfield on the silver screen in all his glory, putting the High School Musical star in cuffs. Sundance is scheduled to take place from January 24th to February 3rd, in its annual location, Park City, Utah.
The film marks Hetfield's acting debut — he, of course, played himself in Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. That doc was not-coincidentally co-directed by Extremely Wicked director Joe Berlinger. Berlinger's experiences with the Metallica frontman inspired the casting.
"Having spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes with James and the rest of Metallica, I have experienced his charisma and powerful presence close up," the director told Deadline. "It seemed only natural that he would bring that same power and magnetism to a dramatic role, so when he agreed to my pitch that he be in the movie, I was thrilled."
