Vanessa Hudgens Steps Into High Drama With 'Gimme Shelter' - [Trailer + Pictures]

It takes one look at Miley Cyrus to see how becoming a child star can completely distort a star’s potential to be taken seriously. But being a Disney child isn’t a death sentence, as Vanessa Hudgens proves.

The 'High School Musical' star hasn’t employed dramatic tactics to get noticed, nor has she exploited her sexuality to prove that she’s an adult. Instead, she’s flirted with some bridge roles, before stepping up with Spring Breakers – a coming of age film that the critics didn’t see coming.

Watch the trailer for Gimme Shelter here

Now, she enjoys the starring role in Gimme Shelter, playing Apple – a pregnant teenager who runs away from a broken home to find her rich, gated-community, upper-middle class, Wall Street businessman father. As the tagline goes, she had to leave home to find her family.

Next page: Hudgens on finding serious roles + the film's poster

For Hudgens, waiting for the right role to come along – a serious role – is all part of her maturing process as an actor. “[The lighter films] are definitely the projects that come along a lot easier,” she explained to The Huffington Post.

“But I feel like doing such different things [and] I am not afraid to go the extra mile and dive into a character. I think word is starting to get out there. The parts that I've been doing recently are completely different, and I've been given the opportunity to do them, so I am very thankful.”

Perhaps the most stunning transformation for Hudgens in Gimme Shelter is a physical one: her lack of hair. “It was awesome,” she said of the mop chop; a picture of which saw her fans stunned at how different she looked. “I think cutting my hair off shocked everybody - even myself,” she added.

Gimme Shelter, which also stars Rosario Dawson, Brendan Fraser, Stephanie Szostak, James Earl Jones, Dascha Polanco and Emily Meade, is directed by somewhat-rookie helmsman Ron Krauss. It is set for release on January 24th.