Zachary Levi on Creativity, Radical Love, & The Unbreakable Boy | The Storytellers with Andrew Erwin

I'm Andy Irwin and this is the [Music] storytellers coming up on this edition of the storytellers we're going to go on a little road trip on this one we're going out to California to Los Angeles to the uh offices of lion's gate uh our you know distribution partner uh in film uh uh they let us uh do an episode out there there was a buddy of mine household name uh you know him from Everything from Disney films uh animated movies like Tangled to uh superhero movies he's been on Broadway he sings he dances he literally

can do it all uh so you know I've given it away it is Shazam uh my buddy Zachary Levi and uh with Zach uh just a little disclaimer it is never a tame r it's a lot of fun you Buckle in and you let the roller coaster take you wherever it goes and we're going to go down a lot of you know turns and Loops you know and and uh and Free Fall drops it's it's always an adventure uh there's never a plan you come in with a plan with Zach and you throw it out

the window and you go wherever Zach wants to go and it's tons of fun uh but underneath all of that Adventure all that craziness uh is this uh heart of a guy that really really has a desire to promote truth to promote kindness uh and to stand for the right thing so uh without further Ado would you please welcome my good buddy Zachary Levi dude You've gotten deep lately man no bro I've always been this deep Andy no no no we've just never had these conversations we just never had these conversations but uh I will

say this to your point I have also been able to uh recently I've also been able to um put words to things that I have always known to be true and have communicated in the past but now in ways that I think are More succinct and distilled that other people understand and I believe that's wisdom well we we jumped yeah we we just jump through like seven layers we went through seven portals I didn't even we haven't even started the podcast I didn't even get a chance to put on my seat belt it was just

like we so it's like well welcome to the rocket it's it's great like there's no need for a beginning or an end with zackly by It's the now but the uh you know so welcome to the show uh we've been trying to do this for a little while you know and but you are you you have your opinions you're very you know exactly what you like and you're like it needs to be in person and so I got you I G got Lion's gate to donate the hold downstairs to you so to us to us

to this to this that's so not fair well thank you Lion's gay I appreciate that but listen am I wrong no you're right you're Always right that's the thing that's frustrating about you and you know what else that's frustrating is you come in here with a great beard and like for a dude that like sings and dances and plays superheroes and action movies and like has great hair give me one thing that I can excel at and you came in and it's a better beard you a better beard it's a great beard bro well yeah

first of all thank you I appreciate all those very kind words second you Have a fantastic beard and and and I'm jealous of your beard I'm not going to lie and here's why why you have actually a thicker beard my beard I I think based on what i' as I've known you right so thickness of whatever your beard is is amount of follicles on face I got a buddy named Justin spragin he's Italian when he like even when he's like you know shaved right like if you you get a 5:00 shadow it doesn't look like

his skin turns a different color right Because you know it's got a million follicles like he could grow the thickest beard ever my beard is a pretty good beard it's a pretty good beard yeah but I like the thickness of your beard my I'm putting that on my wall yeah I've got a thick beard Andy has a thicker beard than Zachary Levi okay podcast is over t i Triple C thick Andy R wi I will take that I will take that dude we' we've known each other for about about 15 years well I Knew you

I'm pretty sure you didn't know me but yeah I mean you we met we met yeah well no no we met each other um yeah probably about 15 years ago or something like that legit friends about five years ago but like we've met yeah absolutely absolutely and I was always really grateful um for you know listen we all came up in what's considered uh I guess the kind of Faith side of the entertainment industry right yeah and within that um there's lots of Really interesting people and hearts and souls I mean true there there's lots

of really interesting people outside of that as well and hearts and souls and whatnot but within ours um it was really uh cool to know that you and your bro were out there attempting to make films for people that you know identified as being Christian that weren't just you know I mean cuz cuz that's and I know what that's what you guys have been fighting for and that's what's built you up here at ligate where we're doing this podcast you know you cared enough to be like hey guys to the best of our ability can

we also make sure it looks good sounds good is good and then we start attracting talent that that we feel like you know that's been the game changer for us is the people in front of the camera well and and listen but that comes with Experience yeah you guys started as you know camera operators shooting sporting events yeah but you both loved film and have always loved film and all of those things and so you allowed that passion to take you from there and then start in your Grassroots movements to build what was what is

Kingdom story and now the other offshoots of of you know things that wonderful things you guys were doing uh that God is doing and all of that you know but that requires a grit To say like well first of all eyes to see eyes to see that there is a problem I think anyone within the world of uh faith and entertainment recognize that there is a major problem you know uh and you guys took it upon yourselves to want to go and try and be uh change in that and you have been and that's wonderful

and in that journey in you guys you know continuing to strive and have grit and determination and love and continuing to Love yourselves and work on yourselves right as we do as we get older older enough pain to the wisdom comes and uh and in doing that you got to a point where then you know five years ago whatever right yeah um uh 2020 That Old Chestnut 2020 they're crazy enough the 2020 of not you guys what was amazing was that then in that time you know you guys were going to go make American underdog

I was I had three other fil like a slate of things I was already doing we were not going to make that movie together yeah and then because of the the the the pandemic is its official name but I have so many other names for it um we oh my gosh we you always lob at least one you can't great that be the new headline thank you deadline you're welcome for that one um so because that went down Yes all of a sudden miraculously you guys had to go boom boom boom boom boom on American

Underdog didn't know what you were going to do hadn't even gone through your casting process and then I was now available and then all of a sudden lion gate was like hey maybe we could wind that back up and then you look like Kurt Warner it was like you know which by the way I had never even thought in my life until I ended up doing that movie and now so Many people have been like bro you look so much like KT Warner I was like today I'm like do I do I I mean I

guess enough you know what I look enough like KT you look enough you look enough they uh uh you know when that happened like we had struck up back up our friendship because you used to have like your house in Studio City back in the day was like Grand Central Station like you never knew you know who was going to be at the front door it was always some like and So every once in a while I would go there and just be like I wouldn't I I want to see who's there tonight and you

had like you had like a Bible study at your house a lot of different things that was really cool oh yeah and then uh you were doing Chuck and you know uh and so I was you know like you know a big fan of what you were doing but then five years ago we reconnected because you had just you just booked Shazam yeah and you did it and I was like oh my gosh you Know Zach's you know it's amazing to watch him take off and we had just gone through I can only imagine and

so we reconnected but then in 2020 we have this FaceTime and we just like this is a crazy idea and then you're like what's this Curt Warner movie I keep hearing myself mentioned that like everybody saying what about Zach and I was like I wasn't going to pitch you bro because like you're busy you're booked like I know I know your schedule you're like Well maybe right now I'm not because of Co and all that like I'll read the script and then you read it and then you called me back the next day and you're

completely turn around like huh I'm interested I think you texted me at midnight let's do a football movie and I was like it was like there's some sort of is that how that whole process went there was something like was was heon representing you guys at that point yeah we had just signed with hmon oh well That's Jason what are we even talking about so Jason Heyman has been pulling our strings for the last five years really what's been going on nudging us together that's what it was so thank you Jason Heyman uh our agent

our Collective agent yes um that's so funny now it makes sense I always thought it was me and it's Jason no I always thought it was you too um [Music] God's been orchestrating it all it was meant to be right it was all the way it was supposed to ultimately go down and we in the midst of and by the way and and you know not only that but I think another a fun little piece of the puzzle and story that is pertinent to now is there's this whole other film called unbreakable boy yes that

that is going to come out by the way maybe whenever this gets released I don't know months Or or eight months from whenever this is released yes what happened what had happened was whatever whatever was we ultimately all decided let's go make American Underdog but it's still the pandemic and everyone's still trying to figure out how do we do this unions and Studios and every like you know it's like green light green light green light we're going to go and then yeah they're like maybe we could push this to a year and I was like

I was Like guys you don't understand you shove it and it already is has the deck stacked against it that's probably not going to happen secondly this movie is built on Zack Levi and if you I said this you didn't say this but I was just like this is Zack Levi's like this is a role that I there's not a movie I want to do without him and if you push this I know Shazam 2 is going to fire back up and I'm going to lose him and I was like guys and we kind of

Po out and we were Like we got to figure that out in the meantime you were free and you're like I want to I want to work and then you're like what else and then that's where unbreakable boy kind of came to the Forefront well well right but but I mean from my memory what I was about to interject was I knew that I knew before I interrupted you sorry go no no you're good you're good buddy come on we're just hanging out and having a conversation we just happen to have Microphones and cameras doing

it um that's why I like podcasts talk shows are tough because you like you got to be in there and got to like wow them in a five minute segment like I just want to talk human being you know like I'm not great with anecdotes which is why talk shows are hard for me I don't remember they because they always do these pre- interviews with talk shows they do oh bro I've never been on The Tonight Show So I don't know let me tell you a thing two so on the yeah The Tonight Show really

all of them every single talk show there's a bunch of segments in the show and every one of those segments has a producer which means every guest because every guest segment is a segment and that segment has a producer and they will inter interview you before you go on to the interview so they do this pre-interview and they they they get on the phone with you and you talk for like 30 minutes and it's a really wonderful conversation and they're almost every one of them a lovely person nobody ever hears that nobody ever hears because

they are the producer for the segment but that's the problem you have a wonderful easy time talking to them for 30 minutes unpacking ideas or or not even ideas but like you know they ask them like how was your summer and you get to like actually talk about what the summer is and you find maybe a little Anecdote or something in that but then then they go and they take these little things they extract from you and they go okay now you're going to go on the talk show and now you're going to talk about

these specific things but you're going to talk about them as if you're being asked almost for the first time so pretend like you're so so it's not even fresh no and it feels inauthentic and I hate it I hate it with every ounce of my body I've been meaning to tell you this Is the pre-show podcast we got to go back and redo dude it's I've struggled I mean honestly like I struggled with with with talk shows my entire career you can ask any one of my publicists or anyone of my anybody I it's not

and and by the way and I I like talk shows in that I think many of the hosts are very funny and talented and I think there's a lot of joy that come from them I just hate the the the um inauthenticity it feels taned it feels yes it is because it is You know but if you go back far enough talk shows like dick Cavit and all that stuff like there was way more free form to that and I don't I wasn't there I don't know so maybe you know some of the guests knew

or wanted to know the questions they were asked I never want to know I never ever even when I go and do you know interviews on like live television they're like so the questions I'm like that that that that no please don't show me that I don't want to know Yeah I want to be fresh yeah well but not just fresh authentic I want to be present ooh that's a good word I want to be present and when you are present you are authentic huh because cuz it's happening right then but you're not trying you're

just no CU I'm not I'm not I'm not you're not like say that I'm not calculating anything yeah I Got 5 minutes clock as soon as you start thinking about what somebody else is thinking about you you're calculating And calculating and calculating and calculating which is what creates cool yeah dude it's true this is how people that's why I'm not cool cool by the way which is unfortunate because cool used to be what cool used to be is like not calculations uhhuh but cool Under Pressure yeah the F was cool not because he was calculating

what other people were going to do because he didn't carefor what other people did right that's what cool used to be now Cool is how insanely calculated are you and it's a cancer dude man cool is a cancer it's been a cancer for a really long time and it's really unfortunate because it makes people feel discluded and un or unincluded and and and disavowed and not a part of the tribe I just you come out of elementary school where everybody's just a kid and you go to middle school and everyone's like are you cool are

you not Co what are you cool are you not Co and it's only gotten like by the way the version I'm doing right now is my imp impersonation of or impression of what I imagine kids and teenagers whatever they're doing now but we were getting this some version of that even then when we were in middle school and it was horrible particular if you're like a nerdy like you know passionate like you played a football player in Mark and Underdog but you were in like the marching band and stuff like That right how dare you

marching band sorry wow this guy bro and I have all musical all the love of the marching band but no not marching band musical theater the but hold on hold on we went down to Rabbit tril as I am want to do because I am both of ver both I like this holding on hold on I want to finish this though this thread which was American Underdog happened well American Underdog was happening but unbreakable boy I I really Want to land in this plane it's really important it is very important and it's a great film

it's a great film um which we'll get into in a little more detail in a second here um I love that I'm getting a chance to promote the movie before like way before the movie this is long longly this is great it's my movie basically umun director amen exactly which is why I feel very confident uh or comfortable talking about it um because it feels right anyway point Is we were in the process of making American Underdog right the pandemic was still kind of wonky and in full effect and lion gate wasn't sure and bud

just a lot of money in American under like you know 20 million-ish or whatever you know our budget ultimately ended up being but it's a more significant investment than they felt comfortable without there being a little more time or track record of a how do you make a movie in a pandemic right and so you guys were like Hey man we got to push the movie and I went to you guys because I was hosed I was was in a moment in my life I not knowing like none of us did that this thing was

going to happen I had spent a whole bunch of my liquidity because I'm trying to not trying I am endeavoring in in in the beginnings of building a movie studio living community in Austin it's incredible thank you I appreciate that and you guys are going to be a part of it it's going to be amazing we're gonna Have an incredible Community oh man I can't wait anyway but the point is I spend all my liquidity about to like try to launch that concept not knowing the pandemic was coming then the pandemic came and I had

no money and I know had no income I had no new jobs that were coming up right and so fortunately I had some friends who have you know helped and we we were able to and I brought friends in that who needed a place to come and out of the C at La New York and We pandemi together and we did all these things and it was wonderful it was super hard um and friends helped me through that time but I was still you know getting real tight on on the money and I was like

guys you just told me we were green lit M and we were going to go make this movie in like September yeah and I was training already I was literally training it I was in quarterback it was it was one of the hardest calls no no no I'm I'm not I'm not apologizing I'm just Saying I know you're not stopping let me tell the story for yeah okay I'll stop talking it's not my show go for it so I knew you felt bad yes I could hear it in your voice right and to your credit

to yours and John's credit mhm what you did cuz I went I went to you guys and I was like this is breaking my heart not just because I really want to make this movie with you but The the drop that I just felt the hit on the ground that I just felt of like oh my God like don't just don't get my hopes up like that right and you guys took that and instead of just feeling bad about it or whatever you went to lions gate you guys conversed mhm and what Lion's gate so

to all of your credit what you guys all came back with was hey Zach because the lift for Underdog is Much larger a risk than Amer than Lionsgate is willing to really go with right now given the state of the world MH um we given that uh we can't do that but Lion's gate has said here's like a a handful of movies that we can that they like and that if you choose any one of these they'll green light it's a smaller lift so they can take the risk and we can go put you and

all and the crew and everybody we were concerned about because we were talking about all Them too right all these people that were ramping up yep and we all needed a job we all did and and and it was like oh my God like no no no we can't wait another year we can't wait for this thing to happen and so it was a collective Lion's gate Kingdom story myself everyone that was like hey no let's not let this moment move because we need this we all need this our industry needed it yep and we

did it and God did it yep and we got to be the Lucky Sons of Guns that all got to collectively be a part of what that moment was and so what was really fun about that was then we all looked at this list of of projects and or or you guys offer me like I don't know half a dozen what one do you what one do you like and I looked at all half a dozen and all of them I think had value to them but the one that jumped out to me was unbreakable

boy which for the listeners and viewers at home is a Wonderful movie written and directed by John gun who did ordinary Angels this year who did ordinary angels and longtime collaborator with you and your brother you know heart of our heart and flesh of our flesh kind of a brother yep John is just the bees knes and so talented and we were able to gather this wonderful cast of of of actors and crew and Lion's gate said let's go make this little movie This little movie that could um and it's about a little boy just

a quick um you know kind of back story on it a father wrote it the father in the story it's a true story about this um young couple they get pregnant uh uh like on their fourth date and they're like what do we do and they're like well you know what we're going to we're going to do the right thing we're going to see this through we're going to we're going to we're going to bring this life into the World we don't need to like say we're going to get married right away we're going to

try and just keep walking toward the light basically right we're going to keep walking toward the light we're going to try and figure this out and they had their first son uh and he was wonderful and but then immediately was crying a lot and uh they didn't realize why until much later because he has osteogenesis imperfecta which is brittle bones disease right then and They're like whoa this is crazy but also the mom the mother she had F he plays exactly Megan and and Drew Powell and well our our wonderful cast all the way around

Peter fanelli and and Amy uh AER yeah Amy AER anyway so then a few years go by and then they find out he has autism MH and the the story is essentially you know like the life's journey of this couple and then their oldest and second son who comes into the picture who did not have Brittle bones or Autism yeah and is really kind of this amazing I think I mean I met and they're all wonderful people but having met the youngest son you know he is really an interesting kind of the Observer of it

all he's the true Observer of and taker in of all of that information and that's a gnarly thing to carry the youngest of that family um but anyway we made this delightful movie and it never would have happened it wouldn't have even gotten Brought into the world had it not all gone down in that way per I mean maybe you guys could have made it later on down the road or whatever but I'm just saying the fact that we were able to for all those things to conspire for God to be like this is going

to be fun I'm going to do B I'm going to let these things go down and I'm going to redeem it all and go there you go and here's this little gem of a movie in the unbreakable boy with just wonderful Story wonderful message um wonderful performances if I might be so bold but really by our our our youngest um actor who played Austin incredible he's incredible he's still I mean literally born for the role yeah um but the story is so full of like real like it's really real it's really real and my you

know my character had a alcohol uh the boy really the boy really redeems the father I mean in the whole process Yeah well yeah absolutely I mean that's a part of it I think God is using each element to redeem each element you know in the in the holistic sense of it all but absolutely yeah anyway so just wanted to land that playing go see unbreakable boy in theaters really soon it's it the the cool thing that happened to and this is where you were a gift because it was it was it was a massive

undertaking to do all of this at once because it's like in the movie Interstellar where the space Station is spinning and Matthew mccon is talking to an halfway she's like that's impossible he's like no it's necessary he starts to spin and he has to sink up with the space station it's like one of those moments like no it's not impossible it's necessary we're going to figure it out so to have you were training for American Underdog that we end up shooting like right after it we're we're in full yeah because weable boy full prep preparation

for that You're shooting unbreakable boy and like in between scenes you're going with a a passing coach to work on your form for the to play NFL football player we're going back and forth we shoot all that out we finish a breakable a boy it's a fantastic film and then we go right into American Underdog that we had to shoot in 30 days instead of 45 days yeah in order to get Lions Gate not to push it a year and it was like both films are really good and I think I'm really proud Of both

these movies man I'm I'm so grateful I'm so great I'm so grateful that unbreakable boy is finally going to get a release because it's been a journey y like it was the movie was supposed to I mean the trailer for unbreakable boy was on American Underdog like people were assuming cuz we were telling them for at least a brief moment you saw American underdog in theaters you would have seen a trailer for unbreakable boy and it was going to come Out that February or something like that so I'm just so grateful the God is so

good and it's all come to this moment and and that I think and I really do think people are going to be very very blessed by it and I'm so grateful that American Underdog in the you know the uh cauldron that we were making that the pressure cooker of the time and the money and the and the that show training and everything else for us to be able to accomplish what we did and for that Movie to continue to this day bro like I'm sure I I I'm sure you and your bro uh you and

your brother um get people telling you all the time that to this day like wow I love that movie wow I love that movie and I'm so grateful I'm so grateful well I appreciate that dude and I think the thing that it's it's one of your my favorite performances of yours there's there's something about like I think everything that you mentioned on that List of the struggle uh got poured onto the screen because we all had toite together yeah no like it it just it wore us all down and this dude that's fighting for his

family and is broken down to his core and has to find his purpose and his meaning and what he's fighting for and then find his second chance like it showed up on the screen and I I think you poured it into it well that was l you know that was that was all of us Collaborating together fighting with each other trying to find those moments and be real and you know and that's and that's hard the collaborative creative process um can be quite difficult sometimes I think that I think that you know we are always

called to try and make it as least difficult as possible but I also believe as you know this is why I fight for what I fight for because it's like which is also not to say that I'm always in the right in whatever the Thing is but it's the it's it's it's always always being wanting to make it excellent and never ever ever ever compromising unless unless the compromise is actually the better idea better in the holistic sense right like you should you if you Hardline so hard that you don't that you miss the right

compromises you destroy it would and and you you never fought to be right but you fought really hard to not settle for something that wasn't right amen [Music] I've never had a uh a a actor push me as hard as you did like I felt like you really you really made me earn you know uh what we found on the screen like you never let me or John settle and there was a decent amount of friction with respect as we dialed it in so it's like you know it's one thing to be friends for years

it's another thing to take on a big movie like that and I think you being number one on the call sheet and It's on your shoulders and you're W to make sure that it's good and we're going to make something that is Meaningful and you pushed me and uh and I well I I I always love that about you well thank you I appreciate that to the extent that any of that pushing came with uh moments of my own unchecked ego and unhealed Trauma spilling on to you mhm I apologize oh you're sweet about that

apologize and I know by way goes both way oh amen amen I mean that's why We're here yeah it's inferred I know it in your soul I feel it in your soul we've never had those exact words exchanged but I know that that's your heart I I know that we have continued to try to journey and be better men better Brothers better yep husbands and fathers and you know and hopefully one day I'll be able to do the same thing and all of the things that we're endeavoring to be our best us mhm and being

you know living in a state of at least I am daily Trying to always remain in a state of humility gratitude and Trust I think those three things humility gratitude and Trust H GT that works if you those things as a bundle of intention help you they've helped me stay on the tightest frequency to God I love that like like almost you know like um like on a radio dial mhm when you're trying to find the radio Station you know when you're right on it cuz it's plum it's like there's no crackle it's like Pure

Source M and on either side of that there's friction you still hear the music you still hear it we can we can be in flowish with you know maybe this is where the ego the Flesh and the spirit like again maybe this is where that that is it's like it's like when we're it's almost like in the Bible when it's like are you you know are you hot are you cold is your Are you standing on this side of that side it's almost like we're we're listening to God but still got the crackle right that

kind of a thing but that little crackle that the humility gratitude and Trust yeah help you to kind of get rid of that the those things that our ego would normally want to run to if you're humble to this grateful to this and and trusting this yeah the great Almighty I am then you can flow with the great Alight am yeah at least that's what I I feel deeply in well on your journey with that like uh I loved that when you came into Underdog what you had gone through prior to it before Shazam and

you you wrote about it in your book radical love Yeah and told your story and there was just something really powerful about like uh what you went through that led to Shazam like tell me a little bit about like just for Those that haven't read the book that moment in your life where you really kind of rediscovered the why of the all of this and kind of God giving you your your heart back um yeah happy to unpack I mean yeah I mean yeah whatever uh what was it that that like so I started in

the industry in uh 1999 basically so 2017 how many years is that I don't know it's like 18 18 years so 18 years you Know I keep I'm starting and then I keep going going back to the beginning I'm going I that's funny what is it from The Princess Bride back to the beginning back to the beginning back to the beginning at 37 I had a mental breakdown right okay didn't want to live didn't know why uh that was precipitated by many many many years of trauma in my life starting as a child and my

in my family um uh whatever family traumas Right you you were you get them literally physical traumas in your life you fall down skin your knee hit your head whatever those things are scoldings from your parents what you know SP whatever all that that's all psychological traumas all that through your family and then then it's society and it's environment and it's school and being bullied at school for years and years and years and all of those things and what beating the crap out of your Ego which is your wonderful like like um AR you know

body of armor you know and it's but it's getting all cranked up while you're going through life it's protecting you psychologically and then getting into an industry at 18 years old that is let me tell you guys this is for for On's psychology this is the safest most healthiest place you could ever want to work I mean the authenticity that just streams through uh the entertainment industry totally um Totally you know what I mean I my mental illness like what's started as little cavities you know you're you get trauma by your mom or your dad

or your thing you know you get these little cavities build up in your mouth you don't even know that they're there you don't know that they're fering festering and so then by the time I got to 37 and I had now by the way cuz you know Wildwood this thing I that moved me out to Texas This I this idea that when I first moved to Hollywood and it was so broken I mean I this place is so broken I'm supposed to be an actor God but I don't want to be an actor why would

I want to go and work in this business I love people I I want to make great work I want to make great excellent things and I want to love people and take care of people and this business does neither of those things I assumed correctly that it would be an Inhumane environment right I assumed incorrectly that that was the price that we paid for excellence huh once I found out that nobody really I mean when I say nobody obviously that's not true but you understand what I'm saying right right right you know this is

not an industry that necessarily I think Valu use Excellence they're commoditizing art and artists I mean that's how it has operated and this is part of the reason why it's starting to dissolve and Dissolve rapidly and that's leading us into Ai and where that's going to take us I'm going to put a pin in the AI I'm not going to get to there yet that be coming back because I got to get back to the mental health of it all um but anyway so I was like what is this and God and I was like

God I can't do this if I do this this thing that I feel like you're telling me to do if I do this I'm complicit in this right I don't want to be complicit in a broken System that doesn't value human beings and I really genuinely felt God telling me not in the audible voice but like in your soul to move to Texas well you're okay okay not yet I'm I'm I'm 19 at this point oh this is okay before okay got and and and back to the beginning yeah yeah back to the beginning yeah

back to the beginning and uh and God was like God was like yes it's broken it's super broken but I'm going to go fix that I'm going to use you to go be a leader in Fixing making a better version of that one day you got to use this broken system in order to build enough of a career and relationships you know Goodwill and and whatever Capital you can grab and then at the right time that boat is going to start sailing or Sinking away and you'll have made the other boat and that boat will

be built and curated for humans to be a better place to live and work and play that was the general idea what God Told you know told me 19 years ago and that was basically building a new United Artists but like not just the place to work like all the studios but like build the neighborhoods into it into the back Lots as we've talked about as I've told you you know like um you know things of that nature you know as well as all the fun and the health and the wellness and education and all

the things that you can give to everybody that's working there making a better world that was What God was downloading with me with that's kind of what Walt Disney was wanting to do with Epcot 100% bro oh my God love me some w yeah like and and he passed away before he could accomplish I know and he didn't write enough down and his brother didn't know what to do so he made thing with spikes on it and just a bigger Disneyland that's what happened i' always tried to figure out fcot that I read what it

was supposed to be it breaks my heart yeah it was that it's Exactly what you're talking about that's what Walt wanted which Walt seemed like he was wired a little bit like you bro I I I I am honored to even be to even be connected to him like that I I I which by the way I'm just making it very clear I have no idea all of the decisions or things he said or did or whatever in his life I'm not and I'm not all that I'm talking about what he wanted who God made

that man whatever his refraction of light as a soul was that guy cared about People and joy and bringing joy and happiness and love and community and he cared about Excellence he cared about excellence in all of our science and education and entertainment he cared about it and and he lived his life about it you know so anyway that's who I esteem to be on every level absolutely absolutely and so anyway rabbit back to the beginning so back to the beginning so so all this stuff started getting downloaded to me when I'm 19 right then

18 years later after lots more downloading and journeying and praying and like what am I supposed to do like I knew early on I couldn't build it in California which bumed me out because I'm a c kid and I I'm C at heart but it is so broken and has been for a long time and I love C and I love most Californians even still no I love all people I'm not I love all Californians I have love for all Californians and I have love for all Peoples um but uh but as a system systematically

you know it's a shame because it just it the legislatively and the taxes and everything it's just it's a joke it's a joke which is why people are fleeing and so I was like I couldn't do it in California and So eventually I landed on night I had to go to Austin and so then then uh so you know I moved to Austin but I had this massive breakdown because all The trauma that I was also running from like my mom my hor very messed up relationship with my mom yeah that led to a very

unfortunate marriage with a woman who I I think is a wonderful human being uh and I we were just not in the right place in our lives you know I I don't think either of us really understood um what love really was I certainly didn't I didn't understand her enough I didn't understand myself enough but there was all these really major Things that happened and I was just like I'm just move I'm just because your ego is really good it's like this this body of armor but that also like has a little like of its

own kind of like momentum it's like yeah we can keep going I don't want to get Shed off of you because the ego's scared to get off you you know it's like it's part of this organism now you're marching and you're marching and so then running from all that and all the things that were Falling apart in my life I moved to Austin to go build this big dream that I had in my heart for 18 years and really my whole life dude that is a cocktail oh and so many other things too I won't

go into but point is yeah I I completely lost my mind it was bad it was bad I did not want to live I couldn't get out of bed later on I found out there was again more complications and dopamine like total dopamine deficiency in my body you got to get your body do blood work guys There is a mental emotional spiritual and physical side of things so so anyway yeah all those things trying to change the world and not understanding that I didn't love myself because once I got all the way down to that

Darkness I didn't want to live my younger sister shakina uh God bless her found a place called um priv Swiss which is um an organization that operates on the East Coast on the west coast like in the Northeast in Connecticut and um kind of In the Malibu area I think and um I spent three weeks getting super deep super intensive life changing life saving therapy dude that's awesome the biggest gift I got out of that or one of the biggest gifts I got out of that was recognizing that I did not love myself wow I

didn't even understand what that was I really didn't but also God redeemed all of that because God brought me through that very Um difficult time and where I didn't want to live and then I I came to the other side of that time and all of a sudden God says hey uh would you like to write this book wow and you're like oh wow yeah thank you God thank you you brought me through all of that so that I could be somebody who survived the fire to grab water to bring back to people that are

still in the Flames that's amazing and that's how God Works that's the Redemptive quality of all of the things all that trauma all of the things that have been beating me up throughout my entire life for that to ultimately culminate in me or could have ended my life but instead God says no you're going to stay alive and more than that you're going to help other people get to stay alive you're going to help other people get to stay alive well coming out of that season uh all of a sudden like as you kind of

began to find Yourself and people impacted that journey and you begin to love yourself then all of a sudden Shazam comes into the picture yep I mean like literally like like on the heels of it right U I mean yeah yeah the literal uh heels I mean I was still in therapy when I auditioned for two months prior to all that I was given an audition opportunity to audition for the role of Shazam and Shazam and I passed on it because I knew That they had already hired the rock to play Black Adam and I

was like there's supposed to be double gangers yeah they're not going to hire this guy I always thought similar I was like thanks for no than not realizing that I didn't love myself and I wasn't believing in myself wow I wasn't actually believing that I I can do that huh with the with the right working out enough which I did me 220 dude when I saw when I saw the First trailer for it I was like holy CRA I know yeah this was crazy P oh my God it was crazy but still man you you

filled it out well listen had I known they were going to do all of that it would have been a little bit like really but but also so you still want to be as strong and big as you can inside of that thing because you want to move as best you can you want to be as strong as you can while you're playing that role so it was all worth it right I think the Shoulders were outrageous the shoulder Patty was outrageous in the first movie it got a lot better than the second one but

anyway yeah yeah yeah but anyway yeah I mean it was uh I was a much different uh person even then you know and I was like I I'm not going to get this movie this is not going to happen I passed on it and then literally my life fell apart and then I'm 2 and A2 weeks into my therapy I'm supposed to be there basically for 3 weeks and I told my team Please I'm going to be off grid for 3 weeks please do not bring anything to me right like I'm not in a good

place copy that yeah in True Hollywood two and a half weeks later y not trying to bug your butt um there's this other roll in Shazam uh is it for supporting character small little supporting supporting character one little page asides we don't know how you're feeling if you're not feeling it no worries get It out of here we're so sorry but maybe take a look at it you bite and I had just after two and a half weeks of therapy I just had a breakthrough that day that morning basically huh and I had just enough

light come back into me that I looked at this email and I was like maybe wow M may maybe I'll I have even enough selfworth to believe that this is even by the also there was a part of me was Like is this the devil yeah yeah yeah like it's the forbidden fruit like Devil it tastes good come back it really was and that followed me through the whole process of the Shazam casting because so anyway so I get I'm like okay okay I'm like I I I said when did they need this byy they

go end of week Friday cool so by the end of the week I was feeling even better about myself so I was like okay whatever maybe maybe I could do this and not want to Die if I don't get it you know what I mean it's like that kind of a thing it's like I don't do I do I even need to be doing any of this stuff I'm probably here because of the way this industry made me feel about myself or how I allowed it to make me feel about myself absolutely you know more

whatever but and so I was like okay cool and I took my phone and I propped it up with some books on the book on the like on The dresser I did one take of one scene like a monologue basically and I sent it in on Friday afternoon Friday early evening couple hours later my phone's blowing up and my agent's like Yo dude um so they not only did they like you for this role but they think you that you could be there Shazam they haven't cast it yet wow I'm like what wow I did

I did not how did I not yeah I didn't know this yeah I didn't know this yeah and so I Was like um I mean that was all very confusing um and I was like well okay I don't know what because so they're like so can you get back to LA it's camera test I go no I'm I'm here I'm supposed to be here I'm I had I had a whole another week that was like my you know um homeworks and all the things I would last sessions with all of my psychiatrists and therapists and

like all these people I've been seeing so many different Modalities yeah I I had a whole last week of just the follow-ups and like you laters mhm and and I was like I can't leave here right now I can't go do that right now I need to value my life right now and they're like okay well we totally understand that so let's get back to it and then they came back to me and they said um they'll zoom camera test you they'll well actually at the time it was Skype they're going to Skype test you

and so I talked to David F Samberg over the weekend I explained hey I'm at a place I'm trying to heal my soul I can't be back there um but I also have no one to read these sides with for Shazam it's like sh the first time I auditioned it was just me doing a monologue the second time it was just doing a scene with a person I'm like who am I supposed to read these with my psychiatrist how am I gonna audition for this movie Zach how did that line make You feel oh my

God actually that that is a movie that's a whole movie in and uh and they're like we totally understand and uh and so anyway so they um they they offered to basically shoot their side of these auditions I read through my iPad with them on their on their iPad and we shot the audition that way through the iPads and then they took that to Warner Brothers on Monday and I we did that on Monday and then uh few hours after we Did that my phone starts blowing up again and my agent's like so here's the

deal huh here's the deal they really like you for Shazam it's basically between you and one other guy huh if you don't come into they need a camera test like a proper camera test they won't cast you without a proper in inperson camera test if you don't come in it's going to go to the other guy if you do come in there's a good chance this could be your role and I was so perplexed bro I was right there at the highest level of is this God or is this not God God what is happening

is this the Apple you don't want to get it wrong dude oh my my life was depending on it I was like I'm partly here because of this trauma this I mean dude the the even to this day the amount of traumas that I've had on sets of you you you're going in and you're hoping that you can just be your most authentic self and and be kind to everybody and work hard and shoot for Excellence and all these other egos get in the way and all these things that just like make it hard for

every and they traumatize you and I literally ended my life and I and I didn't and I'm here and I'm like do I what do I this is this the devil yeah you know uh or you know the devil whatever you know what I mean like the dev I don't know is this the darkness is this the LIE is this the falseness that's trying to be like don't no don't it's the counterfeit don't do That is it the counterfeit and I went downstairs bro the woman Kate who is one of the most wonderful women in

the world who uh was there at that place and who basically prayed Me Back To Life loved me back to life was literally like I'm not I'm not exaggerating this I'm not being hyperbolic Kate is a a Earthly manifestation yeah of a cherubim of a fullon like the heart of the soul of the the she just like she Like she feels empathy on a level that is is so deep and never condescending never you know what I mean like some sometimes people feel it in this way but it's but it's almost like I don't I

can't sense if you're like what that is and it's so authentic and she doesn't even hold it like she feels it for you but also it doesn't Crush her in it you know like she has the capacity to feel she I could tell that she could feel me in the moment when I was literally like Crying out to yelling screaming out to God and she prayed over me and she loved on me and she prayed over me like a mom like a mom that my mom couldn't be for me because my mom was so traumatized

you know she was so my mom herself was so traumatized and I know that she loved me she was so messed up she by the way she did love on me and pray over me a lot in my life but and also never got to the root of her cavities in her mind and her cavities Turned into really really really bad mental illness fueled by lots of alcohol and that ultimately ended her life you know at at 65 years old which is such a yeah sad you know it's sad because my mom had so much

promise had so much promise Fortune 500 CEO president of a small country you know like she had that kind kind of um energy but it just goes to show you this is why mental health is so important because y'all were all born with power We're all born with gifts we're all born with abilities and understandings that we're supposed to bring into the world with God being the guide of them being the hand on the instrument that we are but when we're not healed in our mental health our ego is the hand that's guiding it and

all of our abilities and all of our powers that we have and we all do have Myriad and it's wonderful it's great Incredible what our creator creates and we're all part of that and that is wondrous Psalm 139 oh guys get into it and it's wondrous my mom oh could have had all of that you know and because she didn't she wasn't healed she because she wasn't loved fully enough and couldn't love herself then never learned how to love herself but because she couldn't God Then understood that and redeemed it took pity on me and

redeemed it and redeemed it in giving me women in my life moms like Kate and Nancy and Christine and all of this laundry list of women who have stepped up into my life and it's incredible because it's all just more evidence of our creator and our Creator's Love that's powerful man that's powerful and I I I I've love that about your story because I just feel like it speaks to the fact that God doesn't waste the pain if you let him use it it gives you something so beautiful and respect man it's incredible it's incredible

it is awesome we have lost our understanding of so many words our like the like to really understand the Power of Words which by the Way lest we forget in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the was God the word I believe this with everything in me what you speak you are helping to manifest literally into existence by speaking it anyway yeah I I love our rbit Trails but back to Kate she prays for you the you're deciding what to do about the Shazam moment yeah and what did that

what was the result you're going to have so much fun editing This how do we get a cohesive I'm trying I'm trying to stay present but I'm like okay where do we start that come back that it's like Carol Carol there's all these strings everywhere yeah it's Mr Toad's Wild Ride guys okay Just Go With It Go With It Go With It Go With It Go With It um Kate yeah so so so bro I go back downstairs I go back I go downstairs and she happens to be she was a companion she these companions

were wonderful women they were uh middle-aged Mothers wives or both that uh were kind of semi-retired but loved still have a purpose and vocation in their life and had deep empathy and could basically be moms for a lot of the people that would go and get treatment uh up in in Connecticut and um and they would kind of rotate through shifts and Kate ended up being my like stal wart the one that I wanted and got the most God was so good um but she still rotated through and she happened to be there that night

On Monday night and I go downstairs I'm like I'm like yeah okay uh I don't know if this is God or not is that God or not and uh and so I want to unpack this with you and uh she's like well let's pray and so we prayed we prayed that God would just give us some clarity some wisdom about like is are you in this Mhm and uh and it was a quick prayer and we both kind of looked up at each other and we go yeah H and and the reason why was because

I didn't feel anything wow other than peace wow I felt peace it wasn't this like it wasn't my emotions or my ego or anything pulling at me neediness that I need anything it wasn't any of that the validation or what what could it be or the anxiety of it or nothing it was just like yeah yep yeah and by the way uh Ever since and I have been a firm believer I should have believed it always but um cuz it's true that when you're trying to find God just go find where the peace is you

know and when you're praying on something try to find where that peace is if you don't feel a peace about something and this is scripturally back if you don't find a feel of Peace about something there's a reason why and it doesn't necessarily even mean that's a Bad thing or whatever it is that's a check in your spirit right that's what unees in that that's a that's not having peace in your spirit and so you know go go give it more attention or do what you need to do in order to understand why you have

a check in your spirit about it but I didn't in that moment with uh with Kate and so ultimately I I went to um the place that I was staying at and I was like Hey listen here's the situation I have this Opportunity of a lifetime I feel like I'm good I feel like I'm ready to go but I need you to go and ask all of my therapists and every every body else I need all of them to say green light Zach's good we we we believe he's good enough to go and then uh

she the the proprietor of the of the place she went and talked to everybody everybody gave me a green light I was really grateful for that grateful to have done the work I needed to do to get to that place in My life which by the way was still so far from where I am right now like it's not just like oh quick it's a journey no man life is a journey do not give up do not give up do not give up just because you stumble just because it hurts s it is not the

end it is not the end and failure is not the end failure should only be looked at as something that can help us to adjust and to learn from and unfortunately we live in this cancered culture of cool where if you do anything That is not a win you're cringe all that needs to go away it all needs to go away it needs to go away yesterday yeah it's true and let people fail and let people grow and that's only done in love that's only done in looking around us at every single human being and

I mean every sing sing Le human being and actually loving them not pretending to love Jesus says you can love those who love you that's not love that's Easy are you loving your enemy are you praying for your persecutor how many people on Twitter are loving the person they're talking to or praying for those people that they're talking to and that's the effect that we're supposed to bring into the world and I know a lot of people I know a lot of people good people who are engaged in those fights which is not to say

I haven't gotten into some Back and forths on the Tweeter you're you're good at it I am not saying I have not stepped into it I've seen on X I've done it done it might not but I know but my point is but my point is even in that I am still trying to not hate the person that I am it's okay to dis talking to even though people want to level lots of hate at me but we cannot guys we cannot hate our way to a better world we can only love our way there

that's it there is no other way everybody thinks oh yeah Once we just hate enough and kill those people then the world on the other side's going to be a good world no it won't you will have been the people that did The Killing and then that will be on you and that will create trauma in your lives that you will hand on to your progyny what are we doing so on that just to wrap it up I I had this whole whole game to play with the nerd machine jukebox we were going to go

through nerd movies and all that type stuff but I Think it would trivialize what we've talked about I do love I love your heart because you don't say anything that you don't believe like it has to be absolutely that can go in my gravestone yes and and it's it's authentic and because you you fight so hard for things that you fully believe and if you don't believe it you don't say it and I think it it it's what you say on the screen but it's also what you say in real life and I think much

more what you say in Real life and so uh for me you know I deeply love you as a friend and I admire you and you're Storyteller that I want to continue to collaborate for as long as we both can stand so thanks for being on the show and uh thanks for hanging out man I'm happy to be here thank you for having me thank you for being patient so we could do it face to face cuz it's worth it and cuz you were right Community you community look at this community creating a thing I

love it It's important you're right bye everybody so that's our show I want to thank Zach for being on an entertaining ride I told you I give you a little warning that was going to be a lot of fun uh some of you might have your hair blown back uh you know wind stretch marks across your face it is uh it's a wild ride but uh Zach is tons of fun he's an Entertainer at heart but underneath that he just has a desire to put good into the world so I want to Thank Zach Levi

for being on the the storytellers and and I think the thing about Zach's story that really communicates to me is that in every artist's Journey every storyteller's Journey there's this Dark Night of the Soul uh there's this moment when you think it's all over and you've lost it and uh the moments pass you by and you're ready to give up and I'm telling you that on the other side of that Dark Night of the soul and Zach had the Courage to be able to ask for help in that I think there's a lot of Courage

with mental help about when you feel like you need help reach out for help don't be too proud and it's there's there's not a something that makes you weaker than the rest of us we all need help I've had to have help from time to time myself and the idea of mental health and pushing through that moment to really uh find himself in all that to find uh to really rooted in this Relationship uh of Love With God that he found uh is amazing and after that dart out of the soul is what gave him

this whole new season of life where he had these stories to tell but all of a sudden had a purpose behind it of what he wanted to say to the world and I think that there's something really powerful and special to that so just as you guys find your own stories you might find yourself in a dart and out of the soul and if that means that you're a Place of desperation um and it all looks bleak don't be afraid to ask for help you know all of us especially as creatives I think have a

propensity to gear towards that melano kind of point of view and I know when I've gone through those moments myself that it's so much better to not go through it alone so tell somebody talk to somebody and then you know in that pain I believe in a God that doesn't waste the pain and he fuels that into giving you Something to say and I think the thing that Zach said is that all of a sudden he realized all that he had gone through was to give that away to somebody else and uh and I think

you may find yourself in that same situation so keep uh being vulnerable being real asking for help and then spread the good around the world through the stories you tell so that's our show today thanks for joining us for this episode of the Storyteller we'll see you next week the storytellers Is a kingdom story company production it is produced by Nick KY with production assistant from Ben and Justin Bailey and creative assistants from jiren Weatherly and Beach approach our executive producers are Kevin DS and Brandon Gregory social media for the show is run by the

troops and allies team and our music is Twisted Rooster by Tommy profit special thanks to our entire team at Kingdom story company to make sure that you never miss out on any of our Exciting guests subscribe to the storytellers for free on YouTube at Kingdom story compan or wherever you listen to podcast for exclusive first looks at our upcoming films behind the scenes content and invitations to Advanced screenings join the conversation as a kingdom Insider at Kingdom story comp.com and follow us at Kingdom story company across all platforms as always thanks for joining Andrew Irwin

and his friends on the Storytellers