Matthew Perry wanted Zac Efron to play him in a biopic about his life

Friends' Matthew Perry reportedly had plans for a biopic and wanted Zac Efron to play his younger self.

Entertainment TV host Athenna Crosby - who says she met Perry through 'a mutual friend' - went for lunch with the actor the day before the 54-year-old passed away (28 October).

The pair were photographed during their lunch and the images went viral, which has led Crosby to speak out about their meeting and how Perry had allegedly discussed plans for a biopic of his life.

Crosby sat down with Entertainment Tonight to discuss the 'upcoming projects' that Perry allegedly told her he wanted to work on.

She says: "He was very optimistic about the future and we were talking about how there's been a public resurgence of interest in him lately and how he was hoping to utilise that to have a second act in his career.

"And he was doing extremely, extremely well."

According to Crosby, Perry discussed his desire to make a biopic about his life while they had lunch together.

Getty Images/ Michael Buckner

"He said he wanted to make a movie about his life." she says.

"And he had worked with Zac Efron in the past on a movie and he said that he wanted Zac Efron to play him as a younger version in an upcoming biopic about him and that he was going to ask him soon to do that."

Efron and Perry worked together on 2009 release 17 Again - with Efron playing the role of younger Mike O'Donnell and Perry as the older version of the character.

Crosby said she was 'absolutely in shock' and 'devastated' when she heard the news about Perry's passing and has only spoken out about the pair's lunch because of the online 'speculating' after the photographs of them were released.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Ultimately, Crosby says Perry wanted to create a biopic about his life so he could 'share more about his story' and his 'recovery from addiction'.

"He was so looking forward to [...] really championing that cause to help more people," she adds.

Crosby resolves: "He really wanted to use his fame and notoriety to provide a platform for other people struggling with addiction recovery.

“He wanted to use his fame to highlight other people’s stories of addiction and recovery and also use a lot of his own personal funds to donate to people to help them on that journey.

"Of course, there might be plans that he had, that are unbeknownst to me, that maybe he shared with others, or maybe he kept to himself.”

UNILAD has reached out to Efron's representatives for comment.

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