Zac Efron: My first audition was a disaster

The 22-year-old, who made his name playing lead character Troy Bolton in Disney's High School Musical franchise, said he "kind of wept" when he was turned down for the part of Peter Pan after his "worst audition ever".

Efron, who is in London to promote his latest film Me And Orson Welles, said he was over-confident about landing the part and missed out after "going crazy" in the audition.

At a press conference to promote the forthcoming film, directed by Richard Linklater, Efron was asked which had been the worst audition of his career.

He replied: "My first audition ever was for this Peter Pan live action show when I was 15 and I'd just done the play Peter Pan so I thought 'who could be better'.

"I showed up and it was on tape in this tiny room. On stage you speak to the back of the room and you project and Peter Pan is very animated and jumping off things and going crazy so that's what I did in the audition, running around and jumping off my chair, singing the lines.

"This woman interrupted me and goes 'you've never done this before have you?' and I went 'no' and she went 'okay you can go' and that was the worst audition ever, ever in my life.

"I kind of wept about that one."

The actor, who is currently ranked number 92 in Forbes Celebrity 100 - an indicator of wealth and fame, is estimated to be worth more than five million dollars and attracts hordes of screaming fans at public appearances.

He revealed that he was welcoming the idea of the peace and quiet of the Isle Of Man, where part of the film was made, but that fans eventually clocked that he was there.

He said: "I was looking forward to that seclusion. From what I'd heard it was a pretty quiet place and there weren't a lot of people there. I can't tell you how appealing that sounded.

"(I) found out there's a whole lot of people there. We met most of them. I felt pretty welcome. It was funny, we couldn't go outside that much."

In the film, which is based on the book of the same name by Robert Kaplow, Efron plays an actor who lands a part in a play directed by Welles, played by Christian McKay.

He added that he was pleased Me And Orson Welles might educate his young fans about the American writer and filmmaker.

He said: "I thought this was a good opportunity to reveal to them the genius that was Orson Welles. Perhaps the fans that don't know about Orson will have more of an opinion when they start to study him in school, a perspective and insight into the early life of this American icon."

Me And Orson Welles is out in cinemas on December 4.