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Movie "Thunder Shazam! 》
Movie "Thor 2"
American drama "Supermarket Agent"
Unlike the serious Dark Winds that the DC Universe has always featured, Thunder Shazam! It was praised by critics as a "child-friendly DC film." The film tells the story of Billy, a 14-year-old boy, who shouts "Shazam!" Transform into an adult superpower. Subsequently, there are many interesting things that happen when the teen world and the adult world collide. Zachary Levy, who plays Shazam in the film, has been most familiar to the audience before the American drama "Supermarket Agent" and the second season of "The Amazing Mrs. Maisel".
In Thunder Shazam! Before "," this 191cm tall, immediately forty-year-old muscle man, although he has a wealth of acting experience and comedy talent, but always lacks a role to make the audience shine. Nowadays, becoming Shazam may be fate, because like this superhero who is a bit of a middle two, Levi in life also has a heart that does not want to grow up.
He took the stage at the age of six
Middle-aged fame is well known
Many people know Zachary Levy through his 2007 starring role in the American drama "Supermarket Agent", in which he was Chuck, a high-achieving computer science student at Stanford University, who was stagnant by being accused of stealing exam papers and robbing his girlfriend, and ran to the supermarket to work as an electrical repairman, which turned out to be a secret weapon of the government. Adam Baldwin, who was on the same crew, described him as follows: "Whenever the camera stops shooting, it will involuntarily sing and jump again." "Supermarket Agent" was filmed for five seasons, and Levy won the Teen Choice Award for Best Actor in an Action Series for the series.
In fact, Zachary Levi, who was born in the United States in 1980, was born with a talent for acting. Since the age of 6, he has been performing in the theater. After graduating from high school, he went to Los Angeles alone to pursue his dream of being an actor. But compared to other actors, Levy really entered the film and television circle relatively late, and in 2002, he starred in the TV movie "School Gambler" and appeared on the screen. Four years later, at the age of 26, Levy starred in the film Jedi 2, his first film.
What really made Levi widely recognized was the Broadway musical "She Loves Me" starring him in 2016 and the second season of "The Amazing Mrs. Maisel" in 2018. In "She Loves Me", he was sometimes gentle and elegant, sometimes rude and despicable, and was nominated for the 70th Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical.
Missing the "Star Lord"
Spanning the Marvel and DC universes
Although he is now in DC World, Levi also had a past with the Marvel Universe. He, along with Jim Sturgis and Joseph Gordon Levitt, was a candidate for Guardians of the Galaxy Star Lord, and he was very eager for the role and prepared for it for a long time. In the end, however, Marvel chose Chris Pratt, who had given up the role.
This is a "disaster" for superhero movie fan Levi.
However, Levy eventually managed to span the Marvel and DC universes. He was supposed to play Vandal, one of the three warriors of the Asgardian Palace, in the first Thor. But had to quit because he was busy with another TV series. Thor 2 gave Levi a brief appearance in Marvel. By Thor 3, he only showed his face and received a bento.
He once described his Marvel journey this way: "If Vandal had been alive, if Marvel had asked me to star in Avengers 3, I would have been in Atlanta for three months, doing nothing, and then the crew told me: You can come in." 」 As a result, I was killed as soon as I went in, which is the meaning of Vandal's character to live one more movie, and that's all. ”
Pick one out of a hundred
His secondary two is not pretend
As a big fan of superheroes, Levi achieved a counterattack from fans to starring. In order to enlarge his body shape and play "Shazam", he prepared for a year and a half, ate only chicken and broccoli every day, worked out six days a week for four consecutive months, and gained weight from 200 pounds to 220 pounds.
On set, Levy would carefully imitate the actions of young actor Arthur Anchi (who plays Billy) or ask him how he reacted when things happened, as a reference for filming. "He really worked hard to make us both have the same personality before and after the transformation." Arthur Anchi said. Directed by David M. F. Sandberg once said in an interview: "There are nearly a hundred actors participating in Shazam's auditions, levi has a natural boyish charm, that is not deliberately stupid." ”
"I think playing the second teenager is the easiest, because I have refused to grow up for many years, and I am still a child inside." Levi said, "When I was a teenager, I thought about changing the world, even if it was unrealistic to be told by adults, I did not forget the enthusiasm at that time, and now I can become 'Shazam', it is not too late." ”
Fresh Q&A
Beijing News: Shazam has six superpowers, what do you most want to have?
Zachary Levy: I most want to have Solomon's wisdom, and with wisdom I can make battle robes and save the world. With superpowers, I would never be the one sitting at home playing video games, which would be too wasteful and would definitely do something to save the world. In addition, I also want to have mind reading, which is very important for understanding people.
Beijing News: Many fans want to buy Shazam's uniform, but they are worried about inconvenience, how to wear it to the toilet?
Zachary Levy: In the movie, he says that Shazam can get bigger and smaller, back to a 14-year-old, wearing simple clothes and going to the bathroom. But what about me? It takes the help of two people to take this dress apart, take it off again, and then go to the toilet, only if you are skilled, it will be better, so you must be mentally prepared to have a uniform.
Beijing News: Is there anything similar about Shazam's "Secondary Two" personality and your own?
Zachary Levy: Basically, for every character created by an actor, you can see the actor's own qualities through the role. When I played "Supermarket Agent", I basically played the role, and I and the role were like a mold carved out. Thunder Shazam! The character I played was a 14-year-old naïve big boy. So in Shazam, you can also see my shadow. Speaking of the "secondary two" story that happened to me, when playing games, if I can choose to be a good good person or an evil bad person, every time I will choose the good side. If I accidentally make a bad decision in the game, I will immediately feel "oh no no no". Because I don't want to have a stain on my own game profile.
Written by /Li Yan Editorial/Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan