When the firstShazam!debuted in April 2019, it struck theaters like a bolt of lightning.
Fury of the Gods.
This time around, Billy is settling into his new role as one of Philadelphia’s resident heroes.
Zachary Levi and Helen Mirren in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
“It’s sort of an extension of the first movie,” Sandberg tells EW.
“He finally found a family in that movie.
But now, we see him struggling a bit now that they’re growing up.
Zachary Levi in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
He just found his family, and he wants to have them all together.”
Cotrona), and Mary (Grace Fulton).
“The kids are older now,” he adds.
Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
“I mean, they grew up super fast!
So, we can’t play them quite as young as we did in the first one.
We have to sort of lean into that.”
Helen Mirren in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
“Zach is so good because he is that kid at heart in real life,” Sandberg says.
It’s not just like, ‘Wow, I get to be a superhero!’
He actually has to take some responsibility and save the world this time."
Rachel Zegler in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
Introducing the Daughters of Atlas
Every superhero film needs a villain andFury of the Godshas several.
“It was a dream to work with them,” the director says.
“We aimed high when we cast the movie, and we got exactly what we wanted.
Djimon Hounsou in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
They’re both so kickass.”
Killer queen
Mirren has built her career playing dames, assassins, andmultiple members of English royalty.
Now, she joins the superhero world as the power-hungry Hespera.
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
Sandberg adds with a laugh.
“But the first day she came on, she’s like, ‘Yeah!
We need more p—y power on set!
Lucy Liu in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’.Warner Bros. Pictures
We’re here now!’
and I was like, ‘Oh, okay!'”
Don’t expect Anthea to show off any musical ability, however.
“In ours, she doesn’t because I just didn’t know!”
Here, he takes on an expanded role as he embraces his own superhero transformation (played byThe O.C.
Freddy also spends much of the film stuck with Hounsou’s resurrected Wizard much to the Wizard’s annoyance.
(Yes, the Wizard is back after his apparent death in the first film.)
“‘At least little glimpses of them!'”
(That way, he says, Kalypso would have maximum visibility as she soared over the city.)
“It was also trying to figure out, well, how can we do it differently?”
“We’ve seen a lot of dragons inGame of ThronesandThe Hobbitand everything.
But this is from mythology.
It’s a dragon that’s sort of made of wood because he’s born from a tree.”
Sandberg says the technology took some getting used to, but the final result was worth it.
“I just love monsters!”
“It was a lot of fun to play with an even bigger toy box on this one.”
Fury of the Godsis in theaters March 17.
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