SHAZAM! Star Zachary Levi Defends DC's James Gunn and Peter Safran - "Give Them Time To Make Something Special"
Shazam! star Zachary Levi is now sharing his thoughts on the recent drama regarding the decisions being made by James Gunn and Peter Safran for DC Studios. A lot of fans have been lashing out at Gunn regarding some of the decisions that he’s made so far, the biggest one involved Henry Cavill and the fact that he won’t be coming back to play Superman.
The backlash got so bad that Gunn felt he had to address the “uproarious and unkind” things that were being said to them and added that the "Disrespectful Outcry Will Never, Ever Affect Our Actions." There’s also speculation that many of the other DC characters will be recast, but we have no idea what they are really doing.
The only thing we know for sure right now is that Gunn is writing and new Superman movie, their direction is inspired by the classic DC animation shows, they are developing some Elseworlds projects, and Batman will be a big part of the new DC Cinematic Universe they’re building.
Now Levi is coming to Gunn and Safran’s defense and is encouraging DC fans to give the new CEOs “time to make something special.” He said:
“You have no idea the reasonings behind any of the decisions that are going on. The amount of conjecture and rumor mill and drama and nonsense that keeps getting spun around out there on Instagram and Twitter is laughable. It is unbelievably laughable. So I would just say be patient, and give them some space and some time to try and really make something special. And I think something that DC deserves to have, and something that [Zack] Snyder tried to do and it just didn’t ultimately materialize, guys.”
He went on to say that Gunn and Safran are “not just making decisions because they like someone or don’t like someone. They’re making decisions based on what is best for Warner Bros., DC, that entire studio and entity and trying to make as many fans, as much of an audience, happy as they can.” He continued:
“If you’re out there and really like what happened before, you can do that, that’s fine. But realize that there’s a lot of people who didn’t like those things, and we should always be trying to tap into as much audience as possible, make as many people happy as possible. That’s what we’re in entertainment for, and that’s what I think Peter and James are trying to do. And it’s not an easy position, they got handed all these things that were already in a lot of conflict. So guys, just f**king give ’em a break. Take it easy. Take a breath. It’s the holidays, for god’s sake. Just go enjoy what the holidays are, give them some time to enjoy the holidays, and let’s see what happens on the other side of this.”
I’m excited to see what Gunn and Safran bring to the table. I’m a huge fan of Gunn’s storytelling, especially with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films and I really hope he brings that kind of greatness to the DC Cinematic Universe.
While I appreciate what Levi is trying to do, fans will be fans, and they won’t change. Many of them will continue to lash out and spew hate… until they see that first trailer for James Gunn’s Superman, at that point they will change thier tone and start talking about how awesome the new Superman movie is going to be. It’s just how things usually play out with things like this.