James Gunn Addresses the Zachary Levi, Ezra Miller, and Henry Cavill Situations

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | January 31, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | January 31, 2023 |

James Gunn and Peter Safran unveiled their forthcoming plans for the DC Universe this morning. Our DC guy, Brian Richards, is going to break that down in a separate post (there’s a lot to cover), but I’m more interested in the celebrity gossip side of things, which is to say: What did James Gunn have to say about the anti-vaxxer views that Shazam star Zachary Levi expressed over the weekend.

Coincidentally, I heard Levi on the Inside of You podcast today. He’s been on several times, and I always listen, not because I like Levi, but because I assume he will say something horribly objectionable. He usually doesn’t, much to the dismay of this site’s page views. He talks with Michael Rosenbaum about mental health, and he talks about faith, and how he’s a man of faith and science and he suggests that there is scientific evidence to support the power of prayer. That is actual bullshit, but I do not object to one’s faith. I met enough Missionary Baptists in my life, however, to know that Levi’s claims that he’s a deeply faithful person but suspicious of organized religion is bullshit. That’s like when someone like Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis claims to be running against the establishment when they are in fact the establishment of their party. Dropping the occasional F-bomb doesn’t make you cool, it just exudes a lot of Youth Pastor energy.

I didn’t need to see his Pfizer tweet to know, however, that Levi is an anti-vaxxer. Levi played Kurt Warner in a biopic of the man’s life and he reveres Kurt Warner. That’s all I needed to know. But, I am with James Gunn on this: If you had to shut down a film every time an actor said something objectionable, there would be no films.

“Actors, filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with, and things that I don’t agree with. I can’t be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don’t agree with. At the same token, if someone is doing something that is morally reprehensible, that’s a different story. And we have to take that into account.”

Fair, except at the same time, Gunn also continued to promote the forthcoming The Flash film from Ezra Miller, who actually did some morally reprehensible things. “It’s truly one of the best superhero movies I’ve ever seen,” Gunn said. Miller’s future in the role, however, is uncertain. “Let’s see what happens. Ezra is fully committed to recovering right now. And we talk to them, we’re in constant contact. But when the time is right we’ll have the conversation with them and decide what’s best for both them personally and also for us.” The Flash, if it’s as good as they say it is, is tricky. Miller should not be rewarded or redeemed, but it also sucks to destroy the work of thousands of people because the lead has been a “morally reprehensible” jackass. Then again, the WB had no problem destroying the work of thousands of people when they pulled Batgirl.

Finally, Gunn reiterated that Henry Cavill would not return for Superman, although he did have something interesting to add. “We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast,” said Gunn. “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company.”

He is shit-talking the previous regime. I love it.

Source: THR, /Film