Shazam! Director Shares Filmmaking Lessons

David F. Sandberg, director of Shazam!, Annabelle: Creation and Light's Out talks about lessons leaned on the sets of his films. Check out the way he mapped the final action of DC Comics movie.

Shazam! is the 2019 New Line Cinema live-action feature film based on the DC Comics character formerly known as Captain Marvel.

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).

The movie also stars Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton and Djimon Hounsou.

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The movie is directed by David F. Sandberg from a script by Henry Gayden. Dwayne Johnson serves as one of the executive producers on the film. The actor director has long been attached to the franchise, with early talks having him play Shazam, before shifting emphasis to playing the character's opposite number: Black Adam.

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