David F. Sandberg, the director of Shazam!, has discussed what it was like moving from low budget movies to a DC blockbuster.
It doesn’t get much bigger than a directing gig for one of DC’s superhero blockbusters and this is exactly where David F. Sandberg finds himself with Shazam!, starring Zachary Levi and Mark Strong.
Speaking to press during a set visit last year (via ComicBook.com), Sandberg discussed the process of moving from films like Annabelle: Creation to Shazam!:
“It’s quite a marathon — like, it’s a lot of work. It’s a very different way of working, just because you have to do all these pre-bits and plan everything months in advance. Then when you’re shooting it, it’s not always as fun as shooting a small movie, cause like you have to shoot…like today, we’re shooting this little piece, and this little piece, because this piece is like a unit, this is on blue screen, this is CGI, and it’s a lot of things to keep track of. So the shooting is not always fun but the result is so much more awesome than when you have these kinds of resources.”
It will be interesting to see if Sandberg opts to direct more movies on a similar scale going forward or if he reverts to making slightly smaller films which he described as being more fun to actually shoot.
SEE ALSO: New Shazam! image features Zachary Levi’s superhero
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).”
Shazam will see Zachary Levi starring as the titular superhero, with Asher Angel as his young alter-ego Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Grace Fulton as Mary Marvel, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard, Adam Brody as Freddie Freeman, Ross Butler as Eugene Choi, D. J. Cotrona as Pedro Pena, Meagan Good as Darla Dudley, and Michelle Borth as Mary Bromfield. The film is set for release on April 5th 2019.
