Lily Collins Joins Zac Efron in Serial Killer Ted Bundy Biopic 'Extremely Wicked'
Lily Collins is starring opposite Zac Efron in the upcoming biopic of Ted Bundy. The actress will play Elizabeth Kloepfer, the girlfriend of Efron's serial killer character in "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile."
The movie will actually be told from the girlfriend's perspective, who had no idea her live-in boyfriend murdered at least 30 victims in four years. Kloepfer had been in denial about Bundy's odd behavior but she eventually went to the police and was shocked to learn the extent of his crimes.
"Lily has very quickly distinguished herself as a major talent in a number of diverse roles in recent years," director Joe Berlinger said of Collins' casting. "I am really excited about taking Zac and this hugely talented actress to some dark but very human places they may not yet have explored."
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Michael Werwie wrote the screenplay to "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile." His script won the first prize to the Nicholl Fellowship. Production of the biopic will begin on Jan. 10, 2018 but a confirmed theater release date has not been set. Voltage Pictures and Cota Entertainment will produce the movie.
Bundy met Kloepfer in 1969 and he initially took good care of her, a fragile woman and single mother with emotional anxieties. Their relationship was far from perfect because they separated a number of times but Bundy always managed to charm his girlfriend back.
Kloepfer, however, started wondering how Bundy was able to acquire expensive and unusual items. She later confessed to the police that his drive for unconventional sex left her uncomfortable. She also often woke up in the middle of the night to find Ted gone.
"After I saw the composite pictures of 'Ted' in the paper in July of 1974, I check back through the papers in the library to get the dates the girls disappeared," Kloepfer shared in the book "The Stranger Beside Me" from Ann Rule. "I check my calendar and my canceled checks, and he just...well, he just was never around then."
Bundy's modus involved pretending to be an injured police officer to lure women to his car where he strikes them unconscious. He'd then bring them to a previously planned site where he'd violate his victims.
The state of Florida executed Bundy in 1989 via electric chair after confessing to the rape and murders.
