There has been a lot of attention paid to Zachary Levi‘s costume from the DC Comics movie ‘Shazam!’ Is it padded or is that real muscle? It’s too simple and old fashioned! It’s too modern and not simple enough! Recently, director David F. Sandberg appeared an the Film Riot podcast and discussed the red and gold suit and how it evolved as the film was shot.
“Yeah, there were a few iterations. And you sort of have to keep changing stuff even after we started shooting because you realize things… You shoot the first scene and Zach [Levi] is like, ‘You know, I can’t move my hands properly with these gauntlets.’ So we had to redesign that, or like the boots kept falling apart so it’s like, ‘Oh well, I guess we have to do something different there.’ It was sort of a constant process of updating and making it work better.
“You shoot the fabric [with] different lights. Before you even have a costume, you test fabric samples with different patterns on them and all that. His lightning bolt lights up, so there was a lot of tests to get that right.”
Yes, to mimic the electrifying way the hero is drawn in the comics, both Levi’s chest insignia and wrist bracers light up. And interestingly, Sandberg says that is mostly due to practical effects. There will most likely be some CGI enhancements, but if you’re like me, the more that can be achieved through practical, the better.
But as many have suspected, the set photos that have leaked don’t necessarily reflect how the suit will look in the finished product.
What do you think so far?
Directed by David F. Sandberg, ‘Shazam!’ stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Cooper Andrews, Jovan Armand, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, DJ Cotrona, Grace Fulton, Meagan Good, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Ron Cephas Jones and Marta Milans. The film opens on April 5, 2019.
