C2E2-Zachary Levi Panel – All Ages of Geek

by: Gen/Esis

After the recent release of Shazam! Fury of The Gods, Zachary Levi arrives on the first day of C2E2 to talk about it, and the rest of his career up till now. From the beginning, he warmed the audience with his kindness and came open and ready for a slew of questions from his fans.

In the audience were fans of all spectrums of Levi’s work, from Chuck to Shazam!, plenty of Tangled fans, and even, like, two Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakel fans as well. As the questions came flying past, there were no shortage of fans asking if their favorite shows or movies has sequels planned out, but either from a genuine lack of information or due to legal reasons, but mostly the former, the Shazam! actor could do little more than say that he wishes he knew if anything like that was in the works.

One thing in particular he mentioned was a continuation of Chuck, the canceled 2007 comedy series that premiered on NBC. To that, Levi stated, “I swear to you when I say it on other panels and when I say it online, I mean it, I have been trying to make a Chuck movie since before we even finished the show.” He even adds that this was before others started making movies out of shows. But even through all those attempts, nothing has happened in that department. So for Chuck fans, rest assured that Levi is doing his best to make something happen. Unfortunately, it seems that due to matters out of his control, that hasn’t happened yet.

Levi also gave some of his young fans, and anyone who has dreams to become an actor/actress, tips on what to do to become just that. The main thing he said was to do theatre. To learn what it’s like to be on a stage, to act, to take direction, that all of that will help push you on the right path. Along that, he told his life story of how doors were naturally opened for him as he chugged along in his acting career, starting with theater. Leading to the point he is now, standing on stage, being a superhero on the big screen. He added that he wouldn’t recommend kids to become actors. Instead, they should learn to act through theatre as he’d said and wait until they’re eighteen to see if that’s truly what they want and have the skills to pull it off.

At the same time, answering a question about mental health and acting, Levi recommends that people go to therapy—a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.

He mentions he had a mental breakdown at thirty-seven, to the point he no longer wanted to live. To prevent that from happening to others Levi says that he sees mental health like dental health, it’s all about preventative measures. By going to therapy early on, you can prevent going through what he did, a lot of which he spoke about in his book: Radical Love: Learning to Accept Yourself and Others.

In the DC sphere, Levi talked about how he almost had the role of Lex Luthor in Smallville, but ultimately didn’t get the role after someone in the network simply decided they didn’t want him in the role. And while Shazam! Fury of The Gods wasn’t very well received by critics and fans alike, Levi states that he thinks that, “Shazam! Fury of The Gods is objectively, actually, a better movie than the first movie…”. He also jokingly added after fans booed at the fact people didn’t enjoy the film, “No booing, no booing…but yeah f—k those guys…”

Overall, Zachary Levi’s panel was filled with nothing but his niceness to the fans and his passion for acting. As a first panel experience, yes, I had never gone to a panel before this one, it was a phenomenal time.