SHAZAM Producer Hiram Garcia Talks About The Film's Tone, Development, And DC Films
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be making his DC Film debut as Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam film, which is pretty much the only thing we know. Now, producer Hiram Garcia has revealed some new details.
The most mysterious film in Warner Bros.'s massive DC film slate is Shazam. The film is scheduled for a 2019 release date, which is rumored to be arriving a lot sooner, and they've already announced that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be portraying Black Adam, the film's main antagonist. Other than that, there haven't been any new details about the film until now. Hiram Garcia, VP of Seven Bucks Production, Dwayne Johnson's production company, spoke to Comicbook.com about the upcoming DC Film's current status. "We're a good way into development. We're expecting a next draft soon which I think is really gonna put us in the zone that we're hoping for."
He didn't give much away when it came to plot details, but he did reveal what was the main source of inspiration for the film. "There's a great opportunity between [Black Adam and Shazam]." said the Shazam producer. "The great thing with Shazam for me as a fan, I was always a fan of Superman and his mythology as I grew up. I remember it was Alex Ross's Kingdom Come that was the first time that ever made me look at Shazam just differently. I just knew of Shazam, you know the name, you knew the word, but I thought Alex Ross... He portrayed him and drew him in that epic kind of conflict that him and Superman ultimately had. It just made me look at Shazam in way like this is a bad mother[frick]er."
The DC films have been criticized for being too dark, and Garcia recognizes that establishing a grounded Shazam doesn't mean sacrificing a fun tone. "That whole world, as well as Black Adam as you start looking into Black Adam, so our take on that world is first and foremost, movies like that can be grounded and can have real stakes but can still be fun," explained Garcia. "That's the place we always want it to come from. We have a character in Shazam that is a boy who is in this man's body who is having the ultimate fulfillment that I think all comic book fans and everyone can associate with. Like, what if you wake up one day and you can just do all this great stuff? And then on the other side, you have this force of nature who is really anchored by what he lost in his family and that thread that he's bringing with him throughout this journey. There's a real grounding there. That combination of youth and enthusiasm and being in new to a world and then the place that Adam's coming from. It makes for a great dynamic that not only allows us to have not only real stakes, real story, and real emotion, but a ton of fun in the process. There's no reason that there should ever be a version of this story told that's devoid of that. That's our goal in doing this: following the path of the films that have been coming out and have done such a good job."
Garcia then went on to talk about taking a page from the Marvel Studios playbook. "Marvel has, everyone knows, really locked into that place where they're able to tell you really grounded, rooted stories that have real repercussions and there's a real wake that's left after what's the done but while through the whole process they still acknowledge that, you have a blast while you're watching that. They find the moments where you're constantly having fun and you're able to go on the ride and that's the place we're gonna be playing in."
It's been confirmed that the Shazam film will be part of the DC Film Universe, but with Batman v Superman being critically panned, Garcia understands that failure is not an option for any future DC film. "I promise you dude, we're not gonna f--- this up! My vision is so clear for this story and this movie. As story tellers, you sometimes get on projects but this has always been a priority. I've been carrying the Black Adam torch for so many years before we finally locked it in and I'm telling you we're gonna knock this thing out of the park. It's gonna be a blast and it's gonna be a dope ride, so get ready!" Are you excited to see Shazam join the DC Film Universe?