Zachary Levi opens up about 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' and mental health

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Zachary Levi attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Warner Bros.' "Shazam! Fury Of The Gods." (Photo by Amanda Edwards/FilmMagic)

NEW YORK - Zachary Levi is back making us laugh and saving the world in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods.’ The sequel to the wildly successful ‘Shazam!’ is super-sized with wild visual effects. 

Levi explains how exciting it was to work on the sequel with a flying wooden dragon and magic sorcery.

"Our practical effects team. Our visual effects team, everyone understood how they wanted to make this movie. I mean, you can see it. It’s all done very intentionally framed – how it was shot. And dude, listen, where we’re at with CGI is insane."

Levi on playing Shazam!

"It’s so weird as an actor when you’re working on a green screen or a blue screen. And you have props that look like the thing (or whatever) … and then you see it all come together, and you’re like, ‘What?!’ It’s so photorealistic."

Levi talks about his mental health journey

For as much action and comedy as ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ serves up, it’s equally heartwarming. The movie is about realizing that you don’t have to be a superhero to be hero. 

Levi relates to that idea, and opened up about his own mental health journey.

"Honestly that’s been my journey the past five or six years. Ever since I had that breakdown… and it really forced me to go to that live-saving therapy… that’s when a lot of that stuff started to click. I’m still just a little kid in my mental health journey. I’m 5 or 6 years old in what it means to understand how to love myself, and value myself… outside of whatever I might be able to accomplish in this world."

Watch the interview to hear more from Zachary Levi.  ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is now playing in theaters.