Why did Zac Efron get cold feet for 'Footloose'?

Zac Efron has just admitted what we all suspected.

He turned down the role in the remake of "Footloose" to avoid being typecast as "musical guy."

 "I'm sure 'Footloose' would have been a huge challenge," Efron admitted to EW at the ShoWest Awards, where he was named breakthrough performer of the year. "But the actors that I love and the actors that work really hard in this industry are always shaking things up, trying new genres, acquiring new skill sets. That's what's always going to appeal to me: the unknown."

So he's hanging up his dancing shoes and heading for a creepy cemetary in "The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud" at Universal.

Working with his "17 Again" director, Burr Stears, Efron plays a young man who, somewhat unsettlingly, becomes a caretaker at the cemetery where his younger brother has recently been buried.

And yes, there are ghosts involved.

Efron's character communicates with his dead brother and falls for a young woman who may -- or may not -- already be dead.

Man, doncha hate it when that happens?

Anyway, now that Efron is really stretching himself for what sounds like a "Ghost" redux, he can be typecast as that "dancing and romantic comedy guy."

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Photo: Zac at the ShoWest Awards, wearing his hair like Ellen DeGeneres again. Thank heavens. Now we can't see all that wax inside his ears... And he doesn't even have to clean them! Credit: FilmMagic