Helen Mirren Reveals Why She Joined DC
While superhero films in a post-Iron Man world have been filled with interesting casting choices, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Michael Shannon as General Zod, and countless others, Helen Mirren joining the DCU as the villain in Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods is a surprising move. During an interview with the Associated Press, shared on Twitter, the legendary actress explained why she took the role and one of the best perks of the job. Despite having a career that spans nearly 60 years, her official Hespera figure is the first time the actress has been immortalized as an action figure, which she says is “fantastic.”
Dame Helen Mirren taking on the part of Hespera in Shazam 2 may seem like an odd choice for the classically trained actress that has won almost every award possible, but her reasoning for accepting the role makes sense for someone with nothing left to prove, “I mean, for me, work is worth making money, of course. And also, it’s my artistic expression and all of that, but it’s also fun, and there are certain things you do just for the fun of it. And certainly doing Shazam is one of those jobs that was enormous fun.”
The first part of Helen Mirren’s statement brings to mind why Michael Caine did Jaws 2, which he famously said was a horrible film but bought him a fantastic house, though Shazam 2 will likely be more successful. The first film followed Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a young boy empowered by the wizard Shazam with the power of ancient Gods and heroes, to become his champion on Earth (played by Zachary Levi when powered up). During the film’s climax Billy shares his power with his foster siblings, an act that second film explores the repercussions of, since centuries of myths have shown that the ancient Greek Gods are always understanding and patient.
Helen Mirren on signing up for a DC movie: “I mean, for me, work is worth making money, of course. And also, it’s my artistic expression and all of that, but it’s also fun, and there are certain things you do just for the fun of it. And certainly doing Shazam! is one of those jobs that was enormous fun.”
Helen Mirren leads the Daughters of Atlas, a trio of Goddesses, angered over Billy’s theft of the powers of the Gods, that seek to exact revenge over the course of Shazam 2, providing the fury of the film’s subtitle, Fury of the Gods. Starring alongside two other women (Lucy Liu, another amazing casting choice, and Rachel Zegler), Mirren loved the experience of working with them, saying “So there are three of us together, and that was really a great experience because it’s so infrequent that you get to spend a whole of a movie with two other women.” Usually never sharing substantial screen time with another woman, such as in Hobbes and Shaw or Excalibur, working with an accomplished pair of female actors for an entire movie was a treat for the actress.
Helen Mirren enjoyed filming Shazam 2 so much, that not even her 30 pound costume could spoil the experience. There is something refreshing about hearing an actor being so upfront with saying that they enjoyed the act of filming a movie, without going into a discussion about the validity of superhero movies, and just have fun. Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which survived the installation of James Gunn and Peter Safran as the new DCU Co-CEOs, debuts in theaters on March 17th,
