Shazam!
monition : MAJOR SPOILERSahead forShazam !
Now that DC superheroShazamhas in the end made it to the big screen , Screen Rant speak to director David F. Sandberg about the moving picture ’s good preserve casting secrets , Shazam ’s future with baddie like Mister Mind and Black Adam , and how Zachary Levi was throw up as the suddenly - grown - up Billy Batson .
Prior to being hired to direct the DC Extended Universe risky venture , Sandberg was best eff for his work in the repugnance musical style . This started with poor no - budget horror films that were released online , and one of these - a three - minute hair-raiser calledLights Out- went viral , with Sandberg soon scoring a production good deal for a feature article - duration version of the motion-picture show . After the vital and box office success ofLights Out , Sandberg run on to direct Conjuring Universe movieAnnabelle : instauration , which was an even bigger bang .
Related : Read Our Interview With Shazam Star Zachary Levi
Shazam is a superhero pic that , at its fondness , is all about family . Asher Angel star as Billy , a surrogate kid who has been hightail it away from families ever since he was lost at a fair by his female parent . After being taken in by Rosa and Victor Vasquez , however , Billy finally finds the kind of kinsfolk that will , for example , have his back in a conflict with a crazed supervillain and the seven unholy entities possessing him . In our consultation with Sandberg , we discuss the process of regurgitate both grownup and child versions of characters , and what Shazam ’s future could hold .
I ’ve register that you auditioned over 100 people for the role of Shazam before you found Zachary Levi , is that correct ?
David F. Sandberg : [ Laughs ] That is correct . It was quite a hunting .
So what was it about Zachary Levi that made you actualize you ’d see your superhero ?
Sandberg : Well , I mean , he is a big youngster . It was very interesting , because auditioning all these the great unwashed before him I saw what a lot of people do when they attempt to act like a child , which is that they lower their IQ or they roleplay dumber . But then when I discover Zach , he was more about enthusiasm and exhilaration , which finger so much like a genuine youngster . And I call back that ’s what really set up aside , what go under grownup apart from youngster . Kids have this excitement and this enthusiasm about things that adults … I do n’t have it away if it ’s just the troubles of the world on our shoulder or whatever , but to me it was just like he feel like a giving kid . He just find perfect for the office .
You worked with a set of youngster actors , not only on Shazam but also for Annabelle : Creation . Is there a particular approach to take aim youngster vs. adults ?
Sandberg : I ’ve start to cerebrate that possibly I ask to work a niggling more with the adult the mode I do with kids , because I finger like I ’m much more sort of … I ’m very patient , and I very much talk kids through things and I ’m very much more encouraging [ laughs ] . Which is something I ’ve realized , oh maybe I need to be like that with grownup as well . Because I ’ve had cracking achiever with minor and I like working with them . They ’re extremely professional and just very genuine .
Can you tell us a number about casting the adultShazam home ?
Sandberg : Yeah , well it ’s kind of a funny story with Zach , really , because his self - tape that he sent in was really for grownup Freddy . But when I understand his tape I was like , " Well , this guy is clearly Shazam . " We cast the Kid first , and then sort of looked for a physical resemblance . And then , to keep thing under wraps , just because things leaked as much as they do , we in reality pen custom scenes for each character that were n’t from the movie . So the people who came in to tryout had no idea that they were fundamentally reading for a superhero .
It was just sort of everyday scenes with lineament that had the traits of them . So for Darla , Meagan Good , she read for a scene with a girl that ’s doing a driving test , and she ’s like a fast - talking grapheme . And I know our writer , Henry Gayden , had a lot of fun with that , because he got to write scenes that did n’t have to fit into anything , he could just go idle and publish whatever he wanted to . I hope we can perhaps put that on the Blu - ray or something , because they ’re fun aspect with these outstanding actors .
Wasthe Superman cameoplanned from the very start , when you first joined the movie ?
Sandberg : Yes . That was always part of the playscript , because Freddy ’s such a vast Superman buff , and Superman and Shazam have a bit of a account [ laugh ] . There have been some combat between them in the comic books and animation sometimes , and Clark Kent is kind of like a wise man to Billy Batson . That was something we definitely wanted to have in there .
Sir Frederick Handley Page 2 : Mister Mind , Black Adam , and More
We also get themid - credits picture with Mister Mind , which seems to set him up for a return in the future . Are there any concrete plans for that yet , or anything circulating ?
Sandberg : No , we were just focused on making this the best standalone movie that we could . Which I think was the right affair , because you do n’t want to hold back on anything . I saw citizenry speculating online , multitude who were familiar with the strip , say , " They probably wo n’t do the home , they ’ll do that in the sequel , " or something like that . But we were like , we want to do the expert flick we can right now , so have ’s not take for off on thing .
And with Mister Mind , he ’s just a fun persona , and it was just kind of coolheaded … it ’s kind of expected in superhero movies that you have to have some sort of remainder - credits sequence or mid - credits sequence to suggest at something . But there ’s no real plan yet of what that would be , if a sequel would be with Mister Mind .
Would you be an interested in a Shazam / Black Adam showdown in a succeeding continuation ?
Sandberg : Yeah , it feels like that will be the raw path , to have the two combat , because he ’s an iconic villain to Shazam . What ’s interesting is that when I first arrest the occupation , the playscript they had was Shazam vs. Black Adam … But I think they matt-up it was too much for a first movie . You kind of demand to give Shazam the distance he need to be able-bodied to severalize his beginning . But that was the route they were in the first place looking to go down .
Were there any scene that got cut from the movie that you wish could have been left in there ?
Sandberg : I think my favorite of the slashed scene is after Billy ’s gotten to the radical home , that first night there was a setting where he ’s about to run off , he ’s sneaking out at nighttime . And he ’s caught by Mary , and they have a nice fiddling bit talking , and he ’s basically push to at least give it a day or two . It ’s a nice scene , but we have a pretty foresightful first act and it takes a while before he becomes Shazam , and that was such a standalone set-apart scenery that it was easy to take it out , to shave off some time .
What was a setting or mo that was n’t in the trailers that you ’re looking onwards to fans seeing ?
Sandberg : The family reveal . It ’s what the whole motion-picture show sort of builds to , and it ’s such a hearty consequence to see the nestling , with these personalities that we ’ve generate to know , enclose into superhero form .
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