As it turned out, it mattered a little bit more when he landed the lead instead.
Elijah insisted it must have been a mistake - a point still hotly debated on internet forums to this day - but the producers were sure. They'd found something special in this gawky teenager who hadn't sung outside his shower since a disastrous second grade pageant still too painful to discuss. It didn't matter that he had no experience, no dancing ability, not even the right voice type for the part. They were determined to get him, and get him they did. And while Elijah was baffled, confused, still convinced that they must have been insane, well. It was Disney. It was good money. And hey, it was the most attention Sidney Mitchell had ever paid him in seventeen years. What could go wrong?
Thus began Elijah's baffling rise to the top (the bop, one might even say). He was all wrong for the role, but had a certain kind of charm that sort of made it seem okay. And although unlike many of his castmates, he was reluctant to actively pursue other roles between filming what eventually became a cinematic trilogy, people still seemed interested in him. They'd ask for interviews, autographs, photo shoots, auditions - and when he got a call that a new Indiana Jones film was in the works, well, even the intensest bouts of social anxiety couldn't keep him out of the room for that one. Elijah landed the role of Mutt Williams, and his agent finally thanked the gods of Hollywood that his brand-new would-be A-lister was finally starting to show interest in fulfilling his obvious destiny.
And then they read the reviews.
Not that he cared, Elijah would insist. This had never been his dream. Acting was something he'd stumbled into, and it was fun if mildly bewildering at times, but it wasn't as if it mattered whether people thought he was good at it or not. He didn't even want to be an actor, not a real one, not for realsies. After his contract with Disney was over, after he finished shooting and promoting this one last thing he had, after he'd host Saturday Night Live for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, he'd quit and go back to whatever it was that he'd been doing.
The problem was, of course, that he hadn't been doing anything. Since basketball hadn't gotten him into college and his grades certainly wouldn't have, Elijah had been drifting since graduation, picking up odd jobs here and there and contemplating community college while his university professor father was barely convinced not to throw his only child out of his home by his youth and family therapist wife. This had seemed perfect, in a way, for a while. At least he'd been able to get a place of his own. At least he'd remembered what it was like to be - well, maybe not good at, but having fun doing something. At least he'd been doing something.
Whether he liked it or not, interest in Elijah didn't automatically die out with the conclusion of the High School Musical franchise, nor with the release of 17 Again the year after. Even though he'd all but retired from acting, people were still asking for interviews, autographs, photo shoots, auditions - for more musicals, no less, which was the most baffling part. And considering he still lived in Los Angeles, considering he still had all the new friends he'd made, considering he still liked to go out and have fun and flirt with pretty girls who just happened to be famous, his agent would continue making calls about what a shame it would be to let all that momentum go to waste. Besides, even his royalty checks couldn't sustain his life forever. How was that new place he'd just moved into, by the way?
He started small. Cartoon voiceovers, guest spots on television shows, eventually some cameos in movies that more than two people would see. By the time he headlined his own film again in 2013, Elijah had grown up a little. He'd gotten over his embarrassment of High School Musical, gotten over the sting of Indiana Jones, gotten over his own neuroses (a bit), and learned to relax a little. But while movies like 21 & Over and 21 Jump Street helped solidify the persona he'd somehow always had as an easygoing partier, his unexpected turn in The Spectacular Now also brought a different kind of attention. Maybe it hadn't been a fluke after all. Maybe somewhere buried deep beneath the bad lip syncing and frat bro comedies was a real live actor waiting to emerge.
Don't call him Daniel Day-Lewis just yet: left to his own devices, Elijah will still choose a gross-out comedy that lets him hang out with a bunch of chill guys his age (better yet, with Seth Rogen) than some dramatic Holocaust Oscar-grubber that goes to a WASP from new England instead. But how sustainable is that as a self-marketing gimmick? Even Matthew McConaughey had to eventually put on a shirt and win an Oscar. And as long as acting's looking like the thing he wants to do - the thing he might even be good at - he's going to take it about as seriously as he's capable of taking anything.
+ couldn't even get in the room for twilight, which he's never gotten over.
+ did, however, get asked to audition for the hunger games, but didn't think he could handle another franchise.
+ who knew neighbors would even get a sequel?
+ known for now having christian bale levels of revulsion towards musicals - but only for being in them, he insists, only for the good of all those involved. never was and never became a particular fan either way, but he won't go out of his way to avoid them. still watches disney movies, if they're animated. definitely went to see hamilton.