‘Shazam’: New Featurette With New Footage, Zachary Levi, and More

Warner Bros. has released a new look at Shazam! in the form of a behind-the-scenes featurette with new footage from the film.

In the video above, the cast and crew of Shazam! offer some brand new insight in regards to the upcoming film. To date, the film has not released a tremendous amount of footage, but after ComicBook.com visited the Warner Bros. lot to speak with director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran, abundant updates are on the way!

“Billy is a foster kid,” Zachary Levi says of Billy Batson in the the video above. The role of Billy Batson is split between Levi and Asher Angel, with the former playing the god-like hero version of the character and the latter being the younger form version of Billy. “He’s been in and out of foster homes. He is a kid who wants the best, who sticks up for the other kid and, because he is pure of heart, he is transported to this wizard who endows him with this power of Shazam.”

Billy Batson’s Shazam is unlike most other super heroes, though. “Shazam is one of very few super heroes that is genuinely stoked to be a super hero,” Levi said. “More ofthen than not you’ve got a character who is begrudgingly pulled into this and you look at them and they’re like, ‘Uh, I have to save the world again…’ Billy Batson is stoked! I just get to show up on set and be like, ‘I get to do this? I get to fly around and fight bad guys?’”

In the footage of Shazam! shown to ComicBook.com, Angel’s Billy Batson heads underground involuntarily to meet Djimon Hounsou’s Wizard. This is where he gains the powers of a DC Comics hero. “He has this power of saying just one word and turning into a super hero,” Angel said. “First he goes to see his friend, Freddy.”

Freddy Freeman might just have all the answers Billy needs, with Jack Dylan Glazer of IT fame enthusiastically playing the role. “Freddy is a super hero fanatic and so when he finds out that Billy is a super hero, he’s like, ‘I know exactly what to do!’” Glazer said. “I feel like any kid who gains the power of being an adult is gonna be like, ‘We should do things that only adults can do, duh!’”

From there, the orphans who will carry Shazam!‘s narrative go on an emotional journey of discovery and learn how super heroics work when it comes to saving the world.

Shazam! hits theaters on April 5.