Ever since the first ‘Shazam!’ set photos leaked, revealing Zachary Levi in his full bright red regalia, some have been wondering whether that’s really all-Zachary under the spandex or if the suit is padded.  Levi has stated that he is hitting the gym five or six times a week, with a personal trainer named Eric Blackmon and is working out for about an hour and fifteen minutes at a time.  He is also on a diet of 3,700 calories a day and has been sharing his progress on social media.

Even so, here is a photo of Levi from just a few months ago, in November 2017.

Zachary Levi
Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

Now compare that with how he appears here in costume from the set of ‘Shazam!’ that was shared by the Daily Mail last month.

That’s a fairly huge difference. It almost seems that Levi actually has the God-given magical powers of his film alter ego, granting him such a huge physical transformation in such a short time.

But other actors have made huge physical changes for roles.  Remember how Chris Pratt slimmed down and got ripped between filming his sitcom ‘Parks & Recreation’ for movie roles in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Jurassic World’?

Here are some images posted by Blackmon that seem to document Levi’s transformation:

In response to this minor controversy, Levi took to seemingly dispel any rumors that his bigger are the result of anything but hard work, although his snarky tone undermines his message slightly:

Perhaps to further add fuel to the fire, it seems clear that at some point in post-production, Levi’s costume will get some additional CGI tinkering.  Also not helping, when ‘Men’s Health’ reached out to Warner Brothers to speak to costume designer Leah Butler, their request was declined “to preserve as much of the movie magic as possible while the film is still in production.”  Just how much of what we see is Levi and how much is “movie magic?”  It seems we may never find out, at least until the film arrives.

What do you think?  Do you think Levi managed to bulk up due to hard work?  Or is it “movie magic?”

Source: Men’s Health