ON THE COVER Hungry for more substance and big-screen success

For better or worse, to be Zac Efron right now is to feel the threat of an uncertain future looming. He knows that his every move is being monitored by fans and detractors alike. Not so different, as it turns out, from being a secret agent. Only with much better pay. (Efron stays low-key about what he does with the reported millions he earns on each project — he drives an Audi and lives in a modest two-bedroom in the Valley.) But he refuses to walk away from a challenge. After lunch, he's made plans to play tennis with some friends, but he accepts an invitation to face off against some EW staffers on PlayStation 3's Rock Band. Though he refuses to step up to the mike — ''I'm definitely not singing here'' — he plops down in front of the drum set. ''I've never played this before, but I've heard the drums are hardest,'' he says blithely. Sure enough, when Weezer's ''Say It Ain't So'' cues up and he starts pounding away, he's a natural, scoring in the high-80th percentile. The next song, Mountain's ''Mississippi Queen,'' is a tough slog for even the most experienced Rock Banders, and Efron struggles to stay in the game. ''Oh, man, this one's so hard,'' he says, looking like any American kid happy to escape his life and pretend he's a musical god for a few minutes. ''Oh, wait. I'm coming back,'' he says, engineering a last-minute save. ''I've got this, people. I'm not going down just yet.''

See seven more exclusive pics from our Zac Efron photoshoot

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