At the start of 2023, Zachary Levi was on top. He had spent five years as the star of the NBC spy show Chuck. Then he became a big name in movies with the success of Shazam! That DC movie was a low-risk bet for Warner Bros. It got good reviews and made a lot of money worldwide. But as the sequel was about to come out that year Levi sparked a big reaction. He vaguely commented on the COVID vaccine talk. When someone asked him on Twitter, "Do you agree or not that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?" Levi replied "Hardcore agree."
This kind of vaccine skepticism had already hurt the careers of other superhero stars. Letitia Wright and Evangeline Lilly had faced similar issues. But Levi doubled down. The next year he supported presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy is not popular in Hollywood because he talks about vaccine schedules and COVID boosters. When Kennedy ended his bid for the Democratic Party nomination and told his supporters to back Donald Trump, Levi was unsure. After a serious talk with Kennedy, he decided to support the man most disliked by his fellow showbiz people.
For an actor who started to struggle in movies with flops like last year’s Harold and the Purple Crayon, his timing for going against the grain was not great. But Levi has even bigger plans than just becoming an A-list star. He is about to try something risky. He plans to open a Hollywood studio in Austin Texas. Austin is a place where many in the entertainment world who dislike vaccine rules like Joe Rogan and Woody Harrelson live. Rogan is safe because he is Spotify’s top podcaster. Harrelson gets a pass because he only questions vaccine issues. Levi is more vulnerable. His career was already slowing down before he spoke out. Soon he will also have a family to take care of. Levi was days away from becoming a father for the first time when he spoke in March. He had just finished getting ready for a home birth at his Ventura California home with his partner, photographer Maggie Keating.
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Levi knows his opinions have changed how some people see him. "I know that there are people that would prefer not to work with me now because of my opinions. My team has let me know," he said. He nodded towards Beverly Hills where his agents are. "They haven’t given me any specific names but there are people who prefer not to work with me at this time. And it’s unfortunate. I knew that was probably going to happen. I didn’t make this decision blindly or casually."
Despite this, his support for certain political movements might be well timed after all. After the 2024 election, more people are noticing those who hold different views. If things go well for Levi his plans for the future could reach far beyond Texas. No matter what, his status as someone not wanted in Hollywood does not bother him much. The town is struggling with production costs audience disinterest and a big gap between the rich and the regular workers. With this bad outlook Levi said he would rather leave. He spoke very directly. "AI is about to be the nail in the coffin," he noted. "And we wonder why L.A. has become the Detroit of the entertainment industry."
As Levi drank a pink drink and ate organic eggs, the 44-year-old actor was working on raising $40 million. This money is to help build a $100 million full-service campus in Austin for his Wyldwood Studios. This place would definitely do well if Trump follows through on his promise to put 100% taxes on producers who film outside the country. Also, the Texas Senate has suggested putting half a billion dollars into film production. This is thanks to efforts by Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey, and Taylor Sheridan. The bill was proposed by a Republican senator. Levi imagines a place with two big soundstages. It would also have two outdoor theaters, a small hotel, cabins, and a restaurant that serves fresh food. He bought the 75 acres along the Colorado River long before he went against Hollywood norms.
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"Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks and all those old-timers knew it over 100 years ago. Hollywood was broken then and we needed a better system," he said talking about the silent-era movie legends who started United Artists to avoid tough studio contracts. "This industry is crumbling around us. In order for us to survive we need to have a space for artists that will foster certified organic human-made content."
Levi speaks with a strong conviction. He sounds more like a thoughtful person than a political extremist. The 6'3" Ventura native loves to sing. Remember his "I See the Light" song with Mandy Moore in Tangled? He also talks about his "plant medicine journeys." He is not a typical conservative. In 2020 he voted for Marianne Williamson in the Democratic presidential primary. In 2016 he voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. He also urged his social media followers not to vote for Trump. He said Trump did not care about "anything but power."
"I was not a fan of Trump’s Trumpiness," he explained about the man he has never met. "I didn’t like a lot of these personal things, the ways that he carries himself a lot of the time. I understand people’s aversion. Do I think the whole package is somehow perfect? No. In fact, most people who voted for Donald Trump recognize a lot of the imperfections in all of it. Nobody was saying, ‘This is the Orange Messiah.’"
Levi has a different kind of guiding force. He describes himself as a non-denominational Christian and very dedicated to his faith. For those who expect Wyldwood to make conservative movies like The Daily Wire does from Nashville, think again. Levi said he is aiming for content closer to The White Lotus than The Chosen. Parts of his beliefs fit well into Hollywood. When asked why he once spoke out against gay bullying at an Anti-Defamation League event he explained: "I have conservative views and I have more liberal views. And one of my more liberal views is that particularly growing up in the arts I’ve had gay friends my entire life and I’ve never even within my spirituality seen it as this thing that we need to be fearful of or scorn or bully or anything. I love my gay friends my gay community. Jesus wouldn’t bully somebody online or otherwise because they’re gay."
Even though he sees flaws in Trump and has some ideas that lean left, Levi seems to have upset many in the industry. But he is open to the idea that he might be wrong about many things. "It’s great pride and foolishness to think that you are incapable of being tricked," he said. "We are all capable of being tricked. I could be getting tricked right now putting my trust into leaders that I helped to get elected."
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For someone who calls himself a Hollywood outsider, Levi has many people supporting him. Josh Schwartz, co-creator of Chuck, has stayed friends with Levi. Schwartz said Levi is "just an incredibly passionate person. He’s really smart. He has great instincts. He’s really good at business in terms of looking towards the future. I’m not even entirely sure what’s going on in Texas but I know he’s thinking about the future of the industry especially with these uncertain technology changes."
Director Guy Moshe worked with Levi on the upcoming thriller Hotel Tehran as Levi faced more criticism for his COVID vaccine views. "To me it was a very brave thing he was doing. And I said that to him when we were filming. And I saw what he was going through. Obviously you can imagine there’s a lot of voices in your head when you’re in Hollywood in his position. And for the record I’ve taken the vaccine as have my kids," Moshe remembered. "He is like a disruptor in a way. He’s talking about a lot of things. He’s talking about AI health politics Hollywood. And he is challenging us to engage in a meaningful and thoughtful conversation about these subjects as opposed to having an automatic for or against response. We used to praise this back in the day."
Others feel unsure about their friendship with Levi. Robert Duncan McNeill who directed about 20 episodes of Chuck has stayed close friends with Levi. This is even though their politics seem to clash. McNeill who calls himself left-wing and sees Trump as a major danger to democracy sometimes struggles with the situation. "I love Zach dearly but I don’t want in any way for our friendship and my feelings about him as a human to be an endorsement of his politics because I strongly disagree with them," McNeill said. "But he’s an unusual friend in my life. He sometimes can be more of a caring liberal than I am which shocks me. Zach truly acts on his beliefs in many ways better than me."
Not all of his former colleagues feel good about Levi. Laura Benanti who worked with him in 2016 on Broadway in She Loves Me is one example. When their fellow cast member Gavin Creel passed away in September from a rare cancer at 48, Levi suggested on Instagram that COVID vaccines could have played a part. That made Benanti lash out. "I never liked him," she said of Levi in a podcast interview.
Even though his Shazam! Fury of the Gods co-star Rachel Zegler did not name Levi, she posted on Instagram after the election: "May Trump supporters never know peace." That does not change his feelings about her. "I am one of those people obviously," he said referring to his own vote for Trump. "But I think that we have got to recognize that a lot of times people’s decisions are based on the bad information that they’re being given regularly. So should I hate her because she’s influenced by all these voices that are telling her that he’s Hitler and the people who vote for him are Nazis? She’s a really talented girl and I do think that she wants the best for the world deep down."
Filming both Shazam! movies was enjoyable for him and Levi still talks about his "Shazamily." But a change in leadership at DC from Walter Hamada to James Gunn and Peter Safran meant the old regime’s movies were released in 2023 with little marketing. This group included The Flash, Blue Beetle, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and the Shazam! sequel. They all did not perform well. Fury of the Gods made only $134 million from a $110 million budget. When a reporter asked Gunn about Levi’s Pfizer post, the DC boss responded: "Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things that I don’t agree with. And that’s going to happen. I don’t have a list of things that somebody should say because of what I think. And you know I can’t be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don’t agree with." Still Levi is not bitter. He blames the reporter for trying to use Gunn to publicly shame him.
"I’ve known James for a really long time and I believe that he was doing what he needed to do in order to answer those questions to the best of his ability," he said. "I didn’t feel like he threw me under a bus or anything. I think that James was answering honestly according to how he feels as he should."
As for whether he would come back for a third movie, Levi is clear: "Absolutely. I loved playing the role." But are there any plans? "No idea. It’s all well above my pay grade," he insisted.
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Many of his closest friends in the industry are from his Chuck days. But playing the smart American spy took its toll. "It was hard. It really broke me in many ways physically and mentally and emotionally," he said. "We were working about 16 hours a day the first season. Sitcoms have the best schedule in the world for an actor. I mean you barely have to work. It’s great. But single-camera or episodic television is truly the most tiring schedule in all of Hollywood as far as I’m concerned."
The demanding Chuck schedule also stopped him from starting his superhero career earlier. Back in 2009 Kenneth Branagh cast Levi as the charming warrior Fandral in Thor. Then NBC ordered six more episodes of Chuck. His schedule no longer allowed him to be part of the Thor production. He ended up playing Fandral in the next two Thor movies. Looking back he thinks NBC could have made the schedule work. "Where there’s a will there’s a way," he said. "I think that Hollywood is so capable when they really want to figure things out; when they see the value in someone then they will."
In the end the good parts of Chuck, like the lasting friendships, outweighed the bad. There is also the fan base which Levi says has grown since the show’s first run on TV as it finds new fans on streaming. "There are fans who have followed me through my entire career," he said "fans who show up for conventions and events and have been asking for more Chuck, more of a Chuck series or a Chuck movie which I’ve been trying to make since before we even finished the series because I think it’s worthwhile."
In some ways the Chuck experience helped him clarify his plans for Wyldwood. While promoting the series in the UK he saw a better work culture. "It was like where every couple hours we’re stopping for a tea and the day was manageable and there wasn’t as much stress," he remembered. "And I was so used to the American way. I’m like ‘Time is ticking guys what are we doing?’"
Things will be different at Wyldwood he insisted. They will have "8- to 10-hour days. And if we need to shoot two more weeks in order to make up those hours then we’ll shoot two more weeks and figure it out in the budget." Even before he became a father he started to see the need for a good work-life balance. A few weeks after our meeting he reconnected over Zoom. Levi is now a father to Henson Ezra Levi Pugh. "Ten fingers and 10 toes and just really strong and aware right out of the gate. A dreamy little boy," he said.
During his meeting in Brentwood Levi talked about not wanting to pass his own unresolved hurts on to his son. "which is what happened with my parents and their parents and their parents before them." His parents got a divorce when he was 6 years old. That is the reason for the Wyldwood setup. It will encourage cast and crew to keep their own families together during productions. This is not common in the industry. As early supporters the Levi family will stay in Ventura until July then head to Texas to raise Henson. But Levi will keep a presence in Los Angeles. He is sure he will keep working in the Hollywood system as he works on his Wyldwood plans. For one thing he said many in the industry voted for Trump for different reasons. "I know it to be true because I’ve gotten messages from many people who I won’t name but who were very thankful to me for taking the stand that I took," he said. "And also they would tell me, ‘I want to do that, but I’m so afraid.’ And I would tell them, ‘Listen you’re on your journey. I’m on my journey. You’ve got to keep trusting God. And if you feel pushed to step out in that way then do it boldly and know that you’re going to be okay. And if you don’t feel that conviction yet then don’t. It’s all good.’"
For another thing some executives no matter their own politics are willing to work with talent they once thought were careless about COVID rules. Wright for example is making a comeback. She recently directed her first short film Highway to the Moon. Levi thinks she should not have faced the industry’s cold shoulder. "I really have a lot of respect for her," he said. "They tried to ruin Letitia’s reputation. And then of course they go ‘And she’s a Christian — of course she’s crazy.’" Although Lilly said she is stopping acting Dennis Quaid who spoke for Trump is working steadily. And Ice Cube who dismissed the vaccine during an interview with Tucker Carlson just got hired by Warner Bros. to write and star in a new Friday movie.
"While there are some people who might prefer not to work with me anymore there’s a lot of people on that side of the political spectrum who are even more likely to hire me and to want to do business with me because ‘I need some people who voted another way,’" Levi said. He then paused thinking about recent talks with decision-makers. "They see that what I did was a big risk. And they were like ‘You know what? I give you a lot of credit for that because that’s not an easy thing to do.’ And I go ‘I appreciate that.’"