Shazam's been taking an interesting route with its casting. Dwayne Johnson was cast as the villain, Black Adam- an ancient Egyptian slave who was given superhuman powers from the wizard Shazam and used the for evil, eventually trying to enslave the modern world to his will. And in all that, there's been zero talk of who'd actually play Billy Batson, aka Shazam- the actual hero of the movie. In the comics, Billy Batson is orphan boy who stumbles upon the same wizard and gains the same powers- taking the fight to Black Adam.
But now we actually have a hint of news about who might be cast as Shazam. Or, at least, who was almost cast as Shazam. It's Dwayne Johnson- who just revealed he was offered both parts and given a choice, and ended up choosing Black Adam. Said Johnson (via Den of Geek!):
"I felt ultimately, and this is with all due respect to Shazam/Billy Batson, it's a mythology that I love; it's been with me for almost ten years now; what made me choose Black Adam? I just felt Black Adam was inherently more interesting to me because I felt there were more layers to Black Adam starting out as a slave and then ultimately becoming the anti-hero who we enjoy today."
And yet, according to MTV, Johnson claims Warner Bros isn't even close to casting Shazam. Which could easily mean that Johnson himself is still being considered for the role- it would certainly make the movie stand out, compared to other superhero fare. Meanwhile, the film may be close to gaining a director- when asked, James Wan (who recently directed Johnson in Furious 7) claimed he'd love to make another film with Johnson... and didn't explicity say no to Shazam. It's certainly possible.
Shazam doesn't have an official release date, but the film is slated to appear sometime in 2019.
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