Way before The Perfect Date was a movie on Netflix, actor Zac Efron was considered for the leading role! Noah Centineo’s new movie is based off of Steve Bloom’s Young Adult novel “The Stand-In”.

The author shared with Masslive that Warner Bros originally had the rights to the book. Zac Efron and Shia LaBeouf were considered for the cast. Legendary director Garry Marshall of The Princess Diaries and Pretty Women, was in talks of directing the movie. Despite all the talent that was attached to the project, it was never made.

The rights to the film were eventually given to Awesomeness Films. Laura Marano, Odiseas Georgiadis, Camila Mendes, and Centineo became a part of the new cast for the film.

Bloom shared the story behind The Perfect Date was inspired by a personal experience he had. One of Bloom’s friends asked him if his daughter knew of anyone who would be willing to be a stand-in prom date for his own daughter. Bloom thought about the question, which lead him to craft the concept of a dating escort into a story.