Actor Zac Efron has been stretching himself as an actor since he exited the Disney family as a child. He has played a serial killer, been in a musical film, and, now, is taking part in a movie about The Greatest Beer Run Ever, which really did occur.
Today Apple TV Plus dropped a trailer for the project on YouTube. It will also run in theaters and on the platform at the end of next month. It tells the story of U.S. Marine Corps veteran John Donohue who, while working as a merchant seaman, was challenged one night in a bar to sneak into Vietnam, find friends in combat to give messages of support from back home and a beer. Donohue really did this, Pabst Blue Ribbon made a documentary about it, and one of the real veterans involved in the incident suggests in the documentary that viewers are in for a treat about a real man who is quite over-the-top.
“He was different, he was wild, he was great, he did things nobody else would think about doing.”
In the minutes-long trailer highlighted by Apple, those who made the film emphasize that what people are seeing really was accomplished, and, it also appears some of Donohue’s peers in the adaptation were not necessarily happy to see him. Though Efron in his performance does say he is not doing it as a gag, but instead really believes in showing support in what may be the most extreme way possible.
“I’m not doing this for laughs, I’m doing it for all you guys … I didn’t come all this way just to quit.”
Later moments hammer home the unjust nature of the conflict, as Donohue has scenes with a war correspondent played by Russell Crowe, and the footage also suggests it will not be easy for him to leave the war zone. At one point, he appears to be fleeing from someone in the jungle, and an official tells Donohue it is indeed more difficult to get out of a battle than to get caught up in one.
John Donohue was still living as of 2020. The film based on his wild misadventure comes out Sept. 30.
