How has the huge success of High School Musical impacted the cast?
Have they changed? A: Sure. They’ve grown as people and as actors and they now have albums and concert tours and other motion pictures in their credits. Certainly on the second film there was this feeling of, “Whoa! What’s happening here?” But in other ways they haven’t changed at all. They practice, they rehearse, and they come to set prepared and excited about the work. They’re not out partying and clubbing and honestly, I say this very sincerely, not one of them is in it for the celebrity, not a one of them. I’m so filled with joy just coming to the set to work with them. Q: Let’s go back to the beginning. Tell us about the casting process on the first film. A: The one thing that I can say is that the minute I met Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens at auditions and I paired them up together, there was something about their chemistry and their connection with each other that was just right. We went through a number of auditions and the final audition took seven hours — we had them dance,
