Hudgens to step away from musicals

Vanessa Hudgens is taking a leaf out of boyfriend Zac Efron's book and giving musical movies a break for now.

The actress and singer - best known for her role as Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical film series - said: "I want to step back for a second just because I feel like I've done it."

She told Access Hollywood: "I want to do other things and when I feel like I've accomplished that, that's when I can come back and do it again."

Zac, who also stars in High School Musical, decided against doing the musical movie remake of Footloose after deciding he did not want to be typecast. He is being replaced by Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford.

"You can put yourself in a hole in the ground if you continue to do the same thing. And that's kind of why I want to branch out," said Vanessa.

"But yeah, of course it's always something that's somewhat frightening."

Vanessa will next star in Beastly, a modern movie retelling of fairytale Beauty and The Beast.