Zachary Levi, who is best known for portraying the titular superhero in the Shazam! motion picture franchise, portrays Warner, a true-life hero whose exploits and life story are as compelling as a comic legend’s world-saving deeds.
“Zac has superstar charisma, a world-class athlete’s physicality, and lovable cockiness – all of which were necessary to portray Kurt Warner,” notes Andrew Erwin. “Zac checked every box. Of course, he’s a much in-demand actor, but he actually asked us about the project!”
Telling the Warners’ story would go way beyond football – but getting the football right was still a top priority. “I knew it was going to be a challenge to step into the shoes of a Hall of Fame quarterback,” Levi says. The actor has a natural athleticism but portraying an NFL player would be a task unlike any he had tackled. “I had three-and-a-half months solid of strength and conditioning training, followed by a month- and-a-half of quarterback training,” Levi remembers. “And of course, I had personal time with Kurt Warner. It was important to me to capture the Kurt everyone knows – the football hero – and the Kurt that maybe most people don’t know so well … the guy inside the helmet.”
Levi and Warner spent quality time together, on and off the gridiron. “I gave him some football tips during our time together – and not just how I throw a football,” says Warner. “Zac wanted to see how I processed things, how I watched the game, what I was looking at on a play. He was even more interested in observing me outside of the game – who is this guy, how does he relate to his kids, how does he relate to his wife, how does he go about his job? He wanted to get to the essence of who I am. If Zac could get that; he knew he could do the role justice.”
I had the opportunity to ask Levi now just about playing Warner, but something I always wanted to know, if he would be interested in doing a “Chuck” movie at some point down the road.
