‘Shazam 2’ Writers Talk Finding The Teen Voice, A Cut Party Scene & That ‘Fast & Furious’ Mention [Interview]

In the super-sequel “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” mild-mannered teen Billy Batson (Asher Angel, who transforms into Zachary Levi when powered up) learns the importance of togetherness as he and his team of hero pals save Philadelphia from a triumvirate of titanettes (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler). Paired for the first time, screenwriters Chris Morgan and Henry Gayden got their own lesson in the fine art of teamwork as they joined forces for a lighter spin on the capes-and-tights picture.

READ MORE: ‘Shazam’: David F. Sandberg Talks ‘Fury Of The Gods’ & The Future Of The Franchise [Interview]

Between them, they pooled about a zillion dollars’ worth of experience: Morgan wrote six “Fast and Furious” as well as spinoff “Hobbs and Shaw,” while Gayden’s credits include the first “Shazam!,” the slasher “There’s Someone Inside Your House,” and 2014’s found-footage “E.T.” riff “Earth to Echo.” The combination of Morgan’s blockbuster sensibilities and Gayden’s kid-eye-view awe places Billy and Co. smack in the middle of the Amblin-ized post-“Stranger Things” zeitgeist. Like Peter Parker, Billy has the un-solemn fun with his powers that any kid would, and his writers likewise took a boyish delight in their work on him.

READ MORE: ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Review

Morgan and Gayden spoke to The Playlist about sculpting a sympathetic baddie, not overthinking age gaps, writing the party scene that wasn’t, and the hidden easter-egg shout-out from one scribe to the other. 

It seems like the “Shazam” movies try to strike a balance most other superhero movies don’t, where it’s both childlike and grown-up without aspiring to too much of either. How do you calibrate the humor for that, making sure it’s appropriate for the younger audiences without talking down to the older ones?

Henry Gayden: I don’t differentiate between the two. If it’s funny to me, I feel that other people will laugh too. The funniest I ever am is usually when I’m not meaning to be, maybe because I’m taking myself too seriously, and that’s what I try to build into the characters. They’re very committed to what they’re doing, and so they have no idea that they look ridiculous. That’s the source of it, for me, kids and adults can tap into who these characters are.

Chris Morgan: That’s Henry’s superpower, by the way. He just thinks it through and then locks in on these naturally funny things. For me, it’s completely the opposite. I do not have the strongest comedic voice, and I tend to overthink things like that. All that falls under the purview of Henry’s ability to tap into the teenage voice. 

Part of the way this movie captures this teenage voice — at least, this was me when I was a teenager — is that spirit of envelope-pushing, trying on bad words like clothes that don’t quite fit you yet. Did you ever talk with the studio about where the line is, so that you can toe it?

HG: Let’s see, hm. The studio was cool about most stuff. There was one scene where— [crosstalk]. Actually, you know what? Yeah, there was a time when we had a major rager party with kids drinking, and they said no, no, no. But we did shoot something that’s going to be on the DVD/Blu-ray where Mary goes to a party. It’s a lot of fun, but the movie was already running a little long, and you can get everything in that scene with dialogue later on anyway.

In terms of character dynamics, we have two different instances where a kid in the body of a young adult has a thing for an ages-old woman also in the body of a young adult. A blockbuster needs a romantic counterpoint; how do you deal with the friction between ages in pairing these people up?

HG: I put that out of my head, the same way Freddy puts it out of his head. I approached them as two young characters who really connected. They share background, both with controlling siblings, they bond over that like anyone else would. I wanted their rapport to feel natural and fun, and I never thought about her being six thousand years old. She’s still a teenager, mentally, even though she’s been alive for that long. 

These villains have more justification for their big plan than most. They’re not really megalomaniacs, except for Lucy Liu by the end. Is this a key piece of building an antagonist?

CM: That was one of the core things, yeah. We wanted to A) get into where the powers come from and play with that mythology, but also B) understand that these villains aren’t evil people doing mean things for no reason. We had to flesh them out a little bit, and show that their legacy and their lives and their loved ones had been taken away from them a long time ago. When you’re writing, you approach it from every character’s point of view. They come to this as people who have had everything stolen from them, and they’ve suffered and waited and planned for a long time. To them, it’s not so much revenge as setting things right, bringing back everything they lost. It’s an understandable motivation.

HG: There’s a compelling moment where Hespera, Helen Mirren, argues that [Billy] doesn’t deserve the powers he has, and I think an average audience member would agree. He has these powers, but where has he gotten them from? He’s never stopped to think about this. 

What’s the working relationship between you two? You haven’t partnered on anything before this. How’d you come together, and how’d you get along?

HG: I started developing this thing after the first “Shazam” came out, found the story of the Daughters of Atlas, started building it out. I’ll speak to what I think Chris’ superpower is and then I’ll let him talk. Chris sees story superstructure in this way I think of as building a skyscraper right in front of you, all with words. It’s a real talent. He came in and helped us build out the mythology, this world, and a lot of the third act.

CM: For me, this collaboration has been one of the great joys of my career. As a writer, a lot of the time you’re pitted against each other by the industry. You have to defend what you wrote, or else someone might rewrite you and then where’s your vision and on and on. There’s a lot tied up in it, and this was great because I was such a fan of the first movie, and I got the call to come lend a helping hand with some back-end stuff. Henry and I got to walk through what’s important, and our back-and-forth was so natural and fun. It reminded me of when you see a movie with a bunch of your friends, and as you’re walking out, you’re like, “Oh, you know what would’ve been cool? What if they did this, or this?” Except we actually got to do it. 

HG: A lot of times, from draft to draft, you feel like you’re losing something. “Ugh, what the fuck, what’d they do?” But it was a gift, Chris’ contributions to the movie. When we were in production and I was on set, someone would say, “Oh, I love this line!” and I’d say, “Thank you!” and someone else would say, “I love this line!” and I’d say, “Chris wrote that one!” Ultimately, when we shared credit, there was no ego. We fully collaborated on this, and the best part is now we get to do interviews together.

Chris, you worked on the “Fast and Furious” movies, which get a shout-out in one of the big scenes in this script. Was that a little in-joke?

CM: Okay, that was one hundred percent Henry on that one. 

HG: I did that because that was me doffing my cap to him. A little thank-you for his work on the movie.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is in theaters now.