The 54-year-old English actor confirms he is 'playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana' in the film, which is set set to start filming next month.
- Jan 16, 2018
AceShowbiz - Mark Strong has confirmed that he is playing Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in "Shazam!". When attending the premiere of Cirque du Soleil "OVO" at The Royal Albert Hall in London, the "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" actor revealed he's "playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun."
"I was Sinestro in 'Green Lantern', which I thought was a rather good film, but it didn't do what they wanted," he continued, "So I feel like I've got unfinished business in the DC world." He explained, "I played a pretty evil character in that, and he was meant to get even worse in the second one but that never happened, but I think I'm going to get the chance to do that in 'Shazam!', I hope so."
The 54-year-old English actor also said that the movie's shrouded in secrecy. "If you stop reading the script for 20 seconds then the whole thing goes fuzzy and you have to start again," he said of the script, which is provided by Henry Gayden and Darre Lemke. "Everything is watermarked and traceable, too."
Strong went on to reveal that he's been doing a lot of training to prepare for the role of Dr. Sivana, which very likely will be the titular character's primary antagonist with the exclusion of Black Adam. "I've been training like a mad man," he shared. "I'm about to go over and see the stunt guys, I've been trying all of these harnesses on and I think I'm going to be doing lots of flying around and firing electricity out of my hands.''
"It's a funny film," the actor added. "It's about a young boy who can become a superhero but still remains a young boy so there's elements of 'Big', there's elements of 'Stranger Things'. I think originally the comic outsold Superman in the 1940s."
"Shazam!" is set for an April 5, 2019 U.S. release. Serving behind the lens will be David F. Sanberg. Zachary Levi is tapped to play the titular superhero, with Asher Angel taking on the role of young Billy Batson. Cooper Andrews is set to play the foster parent at the group home where Billy Batson lives, Grace Fulton is cast as Mary, Jack Dylan Grazer will portray Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen will star as Eugene Choi and Jovan Armand is tapped to play Pedro Pena.
