With four years until SHAZAM! is scheduled to hit theaters, it may be a bit unfair to expect much in the way of news. We know Dwayne Johnson will play Black Adam but beyond that we shouldn't expect much. Hell, Darren Lemke is still writing the screenplay so they may not even know what the film is about yet. Still, Dwayne Johnson appears to be directly involved in the development of SHAZAM! and has a stake in the direction the story will go.
During a FURIOUS 7 interview with MTV, Dwayne Johnson was asked about whether Billy Batson/Shazam had been cast yet. His answer was no, but he did share this.
“I can’t wait to share more casting news by the way. No, we haven’t picked a Shazam yet, and we have been working on the script. Half the scripts [have] already come in. Fantastic, very excited about it. And what I’m really excited about is — because, again, I’ve lived with this character, and this opportunity for almost 10 years now, so it’s like, in my DNA! I’m like a little kid, and it’s the opportunity to create his journey, but that journey has to start out properly.”
From the sounds of it, there has been progress with the casting, just not for the lead role. Johnson went on to say they were not sure if they would be casting two different actors to play the child Billy and adult Shazam, but nothing is set in stone yet. He did reiterate that his portrayal of Black Adam would bring him from villain to anti-hero but not much beyond that.
SHAZAM! is a difficult property for DC as it has elements of both comedy and drama and mixes adult and child-like sensibilities. Finding the right actor for Shazam will be crucial, so I am glad they are not moving too quickly on this. Still, with all of the DC Comics films set to be interconnected in one way or another, I would expect more news soon.
SHAZAM! is slated to open on April 5, 2019.
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