Zachary Levi Explains How a Breakthrough in Therapy Helped Him Land Shazam Role

Zachary Levi credits a breakthrough in therapy and personal healing for helping him land the role of the superhero Shazam.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote his starring role in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Levi said he initially decided against auditioning for any role in the DC franchise partly because he was battling personal demons.

“I was in kind of a dark place in my life at that point. And then fast-forward about a month and a half later, and I’m in this super intensive, life-saving therapy, and I learned how to love myself, really, for the first time in my life, and I have this whole breakthrough,” Levi recalled.

But having also told his agents he was taking a break in the middle of his therapy amid the progress in healing, Levi nevertheless agreed to audition for a supporting role in the first Shazam film.

And while doing that, the casting execs told the Hollywood actor he should reach for the top. “In the course of basically one week, I ended up going from auditioning for this whole other role to them saying, ‘Hey, we think you’re our Shazam,’” Levi recalled.

So, finding himself in a better place due to his therapy, Levi flew to Los Angeles, did a second audition and in one week was offered the role of Shazam. “It’s indicative of when we do the real work to heal ourselves, and help other people heal themselves, that’s where all the good stuff comes from. That’s where that blessing landed in my life,” he insisted.

Fury of the Gods is the 12th installment in the DC Extended Universe, and the first to be released since filmmaker James Gunn and Shazam! producer Peter Safran were named co-heads of DC Studios, home to some of the most iconic superheroes in comic book history.