Zachary Levi, 38, definitely has a superhero body in Shazam! and he worked hard for it. “I am healthier and stronger than I have been in my entire life, it’s amazing!” Zachary told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at the Shazam! premiere on March 28. “The working out is the easy part. It’s all the eating! It’s way more difficult than one thinks it is. I know it also sounds like not a big deal because there are people with no food all over the world. I’m very aware of that. But when you have to force feed yourself all of the carbs, protein, and fats to build muscle, it was a weird situation, but I’m so grateful for it.”
Zachary plays the grown-up Billy Batson, a.k.a. Shazam. The 38-year-old actor isn’t all that different from his larger than life character. “I love feeling joy and giving joy and bringing joy. Billy is chosen by the wizard because of his heart. I hope and aspire to that. I hope that I am someone who carries themselves and is always trying to maintain that compass and trying to always bring and do good life-affirming things in this world.”
Shazam! isn’t just a superhero movie, it’s about the power of family. The young Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel, 16, is raised in a foster home that includes fan-favorite characters like Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand), Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman), and Mary Bromfield (Grace Fulton). The movie is pure fun for all ages. Zachary also opened up about his hopes for the highly-anticipated film.
“I hope that it brings everyone, the kid or the kid in all of the adults, so much joy!” Zachary continued. “If people walk out of the theater floating a foot off the ground and genuinely feeling like, ‘Wow, that was a great time well spent!’ Whether it is friends or family or by themselves or whatever, I think it should be what entertainment is meant to be in lots of respects. Beyond that, we have such an amazing and talented diverse cast. The family in the film is made up of such racial diversity that I think is beautiful. We have a handicapped kid in the film and all the kids are foster kids. I want all of those underrepresented people, whether they are adults or kids, see themselves on that screen and be like, ‘That’s me!’ I mean, you can go on this journey and feel like people are represented. I hope that can be very inspiring and overpowering for them!” Shazam! will hit theaters on April 5.