'Shazam!': Mark Strong Confirms His Role, Talks Script Secrecy

DC's upcoming Shazam! solo film is still shrouded in mystery, but it looks like the film's antagonist has officially been confirmed.

In a recent interview with Celebretainment, Mark Strong confirmed that he will be playing the film's main villain, Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana. The actor, who most notably appeared in 2011's ill-fated Green Lantern movie, revealed that he picked the role partially because of the "unfinished business" he had with the DC universe.

''I'm playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun." Strong revealed. "I was Sinestro in Green Lantern, which I though was a rather good film, but it didn't do what they wanted. So I feel like I've got unfinished business in the DC world. I played a pretty evil character in that, and he was meant to get even worse in the second one but that never happened, but I think I'm going to get the chance to do that in Shazam!, I hope so.''

As fans have seen, Shazam! is being regarded with a very special sort of secrecy, with director David F. Sandberg going the extra mile to hand out the film's script. And according to Strong, that brings about some pretty unique challenges.

'If you stop reading the script for 20 seconds then the whole thing goes fuzzy and you have to start again." Strong explained. "Everything is watermarked and traceable too."

With Shazam! set to begin production sometime soon, Strong is doing what he can to prepare for the project, including some specific stunt training.

''I've been training like a mad man." Strong revealed. "I'm about to go over and see the stunt guys, I've been trying all of these harnesses on and I think I'm going to be doing lots of flying around and firing electricity out of my hands.''

Strong also teased the tone that fans can expect to see within the film, citing one of the most prominent examples - the Tom Hanks classic Big.

''It's a funny film." Strong added. "It's about a young boy who can become a superhero but still remains a young boy so there's elements of Big, there's elements of Stranger Things. I think originally the comic outsold Superman in the 1940s.''

Shazam! will officially land in theaters on April 5th, 2019.