- 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods.'
We know it means business
because it has an exclamation point.
- Oh yeah. - That's how you know.
- Yeah. [Laughs]
I love that 'Shazam!,' as a title and as a name -
- Not enough. - Has an exclamation point.
- Not enough, yeah. - No, it has a -
Very few things, like 'Oklahoma!' the musical,
has an exclamation point.
That's how serious we are, people.
- Congratulations, we were just reminiscing the last time
everybody was here at Comic-Con was for the first 'Shazam!'
- Yeah, which blows my mind.
I thought for sure that there was something last year,
but I guess not.
- No. - So, they were just waiting
for us to, you know, kick it back off again
and I'm honored, really, I'm touched.
- We thank you for your service, sir.
- I was really proud of the first one.
I think people really enjoyed it
and it has all of those elements of heart,
and humor, and action, and inclusiveness,
and all of those things are just turned up
to 11 in this next one.
And the testing's been great,
and the studio's real happy,
and people that I know who have gone to some of these, like,
advanced screenings have been so thrilled with it,
so I'm stoked.
I think we made an even better version
than the first one, and the first one I'm really proud of.
So, you know, I'm happy that people will get to see it soon.
- Coming off of the first one, like,
what did you say to the powers that be,
beyond like, "OK, maybe a more comfortable suit?"
[Laughs]
'Cause that's obviously gonna be
the first thing. - Top of the list.
- Right? - Top of the list.
I don't know, man.
I mean, honestly, I didn't really have much.
Well first of all, a lot of that's above my pay grade.
I'm just like,
I'm just stoked. - There's no 'Shazam!'
without you, Zach. - True, fine,
yes, sure. [Laughs]
All that's true.
But look, fortunately I have bosses
that I really trust, you know?
Walter Hamada has been an incredible guide
since, you know, even before he was at DC, he was at New Line.
And so, he's guided this project and this IP for a long time.
And Henry Gayden, our incredible writer,
who wrote the first and the second,
like, he totally understands it.
I read his words and I immediately,
like, he and I are on the same level.
We're also, like, similar aged,
so I think a lot of the references,
a lot of the tone is all the stuff we grew up with.
That's why it feels a little 'Goonies' sometimes
or a little Amblin sometimes, you know?
It's got that feel in there.
David Sandberg, obviously, came back to direct the second one,
so we got a lot of his same great vision and direction.
And I don't know, I mean, I didn't really have to say much
other than, "Can we just keep doing this longer?"
Can I keep getting to play this awesome character
because I'm really just a man-child
and I don't wanna stop being that. [Laughs]
And if I keep being a superhero
that's also a teenager for a little while longer,
it's just so much fun.
- Well, and as we've talked about in the past,
I think the last time probably at Comic-Con,
such a culmination for you.
I mean, you've been coming here for years and, like, you're legit.
This is kind of, like, what you live and breathe.
- I love it. - Kind of what you pursued
in some ways and had some close calls with.
And now, it's, like, to be living this, like, yeah,
you don't wanna give that up. You wanted to ride it out
and have a great time. - No, yeah, man.
Look, I think the first Comic-Con I came to,
San Diego Comic-Con that I came to,
was in 2007 when we were promoting
the first season of 'Chuck'
qnd we were in Ballroom 20,
It was the most incredible, warmest welcome
I could have even hoped for.
They played the whole pilot, got a standing ovation.
I was like, "These are my people."
'Cause also, like, I grew up playing video games
and reading comic books and all of the things.
So, for that whole - Gor my journey to take me
from Ballroom 20 and playing this geeky guy
who's fixing people's computers for $11 an hour,
to being a superhero, stepping out on Hall H,
you know, it's incredible.
And all the memories of doing, like, Nerd HQ,
the event that I did here for years,
and I don't know, man, it's like second nature.
It's like coming back home for sure.
- So, a lot of talk in this new trailer
and, I mean, it was in the first film too, about the family.
This is a family, right, of superheroes.
Stronger family in 'Shazam!'
or 'The Fast and the Furious' movies?
If we had to compare. [Laughs]
- I don't know.
I don't really watch any
of 'The Fast and Furious' movies,
so I couldn't tell you. [Laughs]
I know family's very important,
which is why we have that in the movie.
I think our family is tighter, I do.
- I'm just trying to start a beef,
basically. - I know, I know, I know.
[Laughs]
- Me. Yeah. [Laughs]
Look, give us some cars.
I'll show you how tight we are as a family.
[Laughs]
We'll run circles around those guys.
- You guys have added some amazing actors
to an already impressive mix.
- Yeah. - I mean, come on,
Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, the great Rachel Zegler.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're so good.
They're all so incredibly talented individually.
They are so great in their respective roles in this movie.
They all gelled so well -
They all gelled so well together
and all jumped into our whole "Shazamily," like,
you know, like, nothing.
Like ducks to water. - Have you trademarked that?
Wait, have you just dropped that?
- "Shazamily," trademark.
#Shazamly. [Laughs]
Oh, I was coining that on the first movie.
- I missed that, sorry, OK. - I was like, "Guys,
"this is what we are, what are we even talking -"
Somebody was like, "No, we're the Shazam Fam."
I was like, "Too many syllables."
- Nope. - "Stop it!"
- Nope. - Go with me on this branding.
No, but they jumped right in, man.
And also, delightful souls, like all of them, delightful souls.
I got to do this tet-a-tet scene with Helen Mirren,
multiple pages of me just being a goofball
and her being this, like, stoic, awesome goddess
across from me at the table.
I'm like, "Is this real life?"
This is so cool.
And she's amazing.
And Lucy's amazing.
And Rachel's, obviously, amazing and blowing up
and is one of the biggest stars in the world right now,
so we're very lucky to have all of them.
- Are Asher [Angel] and Jack [Dylan Grazer] now taller than you?
'Cause they're growing.
- So close. [Laughs]
They're growing.
They're growing like weeds.
They have industrial fertilizer
being sprinkled on them every day.
Yeah, they're growing very fast,
but growing into really lovely young men.
And very proud of, you know,
how they continue to just navigate the very gnarly waters
that are Hollywood, you know?
And I try to let 'em know when I feel like, "Hey baby,
"you know, don't do that"
or "Lean into this a little bit more."
- So Dwayne [Johnson], your buddy,
who just shared the stage with you, playing Black Adam,
keeps saying his catchphrase for 'Black Adam,'
"The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe
"is about to change."
- Yeah.
- This feels like a very intimidate -
He's trying to intimidate you, Zach.
I feel like he's trying to - - I guess, I don't know.
[Laughs]
- Just checking it out, you're OK?
- Oh sure, I don't -
I mean, look, I'm just stoked to be me.
I'm so stoked that I get to live my little kid,
little Zach dreams.
Ever since I was a little kid,
I dreamed about being an actor and entertaining people
and bringing joy into the world,
and I get to do that on a regular basis.
And I get to do that in spades with this character.
And if 'Black Adam' gets to change the hierarchy of whatever,
then go for it, Dwayne! [Laughs]
You know what I mean? - God speed.
- I'm not worried about it. [Laughs]
I'm cool just having the power that I got.
- Are you good at this point?
'Cause people are always like, "OK, when's the crossover?
"Who's coming in?"
Do you need that?
I mean, look, it works on its own.
You don't necessarily need it.
It'll be cool, sure,
but like, where are you at? - Yeah, I don't know.
Again, all so above my pay grade.
Like, I wish that I had more knowledge
or even say, and like, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool
"if we did this, or that, or whatever,"
but I just show up. [Laughs]
I just show up with a smile on my face.
I bring my tunes, we play some music, you know,
have some laughs.
It would be nice to have answers just to answer the fans
that are constantly asking these questions,
instead of being like, "No idea," you know?
It's this emoji guy.
It's like, "I don't know."
- Your favorite franchise, 'Fast and Furious,'
is on its 10th film. [Laughs]
Are you ready to do 10 of these?
What's the cap?
What feels like the sweet spot
of the "Shazamily" ride for you? - I don't know.
I don't know.
I mean, honestly, 'cause the kids are growing up so fast
that I don't, you know, eventually
they're going to be their own adult,
so, like, am I even needed at that point?
I don't - - Then you use
'The Hobbit' technology, you shrink 'em down
a little bit. [Laughs]
Wait, Jack is getting smaller again.
- Forced perspective shooting.
Yeah, I'm just, like, Gandalf walking around like,
how did that work? [Laughs]
"Fly, you fools!" - Why is Jack
standing in a ditch? - Why is Jack standing in -
Well he's always standing in a ditch.
He likes ditches,
I don't know. - That's his thing.
- Yeah, I don't know.
Look, doing a proper trilogy of a franchise,
like most, you know,
like, I think that would be pretty great.
And if there's other things I get to do beyond that,
like cameos in other people's movies
or a team movie, I would love to be
in, like, a 'Justice League' or a 'Justice Society,'
or something like that.
Woo, that'd be dope.
But again, I'll leave that up to my bosses.
- On a more serious note, but an important note,
you've always been very frank in talking
and, like, I know in your recent memoir, talked about stress,
anxiety, depression, and it's really, I think, admirable
that you kind of like, are de-stigmatizing this.
- Trying to, yeah.
- I mean, why was it important? I mean, this is a no brainer,
but I'd love to hear from you just why it's important
to be open for you about the the struggles
you've encountered and for others to hear it.
- Yeah, well, I mean, look,
obviously, I think we are light years ahead
within the conversation of mental health
now than we were even five years ago, 10 years ago,
20 years ago, you know?
Which is not that far away.
Like, there used to be so much more stigma 20 years ago.
And I think the more people that have
some kind of a platform, that can come out
and just be honest and vulnerable and say,
"Hey, I struggle too," that just helps everybody else
feel more normal, less alone, you know?
And so, the point of the book
was really just to help as many people as I could,]
walk through the same flames that I did
because I know we're all walking through flames.
It might not all be the same flames,
but a lot of us are actually going through
a lot of the same flames.
And those flames tend to be anxiety,
and depression, and addictions, and whatever that is.
And all of those things can be rooted back to the many,
you know, sometimes large, but even little traumas
that we experience as kids and even to adulthood.
So, I just think it's the most important thing
we need to talk about.
And I only got this role, literally, I got cast in this role
when I was like finishing up
this super life-saving, lifechanging therapy
that I did three years ago.
And so, I knew that in promoting this,
I had to talk about that.
It's all part and parcel to the same thing.
So I'm just grateful that I get a platform to talk about it,
and I just hope it helps as many people as possible
just feel less alone, feel more encouraged, feel hope,
know that there are steps that you can take.
Therapy is not something you need to be afraid of.
Therapy is a beautiful thing.
We all need to go, every single person,
[Laughs] Everyone in this room.
- I am perfect, Zach. - I don't care who you are.
- I'm OK. - "I am perfect!
"Can't you see I'm perfect!" [Laughs]