02-JUNE-08
Director Peter Segal, who is developing Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam, told SCI FI Wire that writer John August is back working on the script in the wake of the writers' strike and that the film will go back to the original comics for its version of Captain Marvel's origin story.
"There've been several incarnations [of the origin story]," Segal
said in an interview while promoting his upcoming Get Smart film. "And there's a new incarnation about how Billy has to win the approval of the individual gods before he can gain their powers, and that's a completely different take from the original. So, once again, we're staying very faithful to the source material, and we're just continuing to work and try to make the script as good as it can be."
The movie is based on the comics, now published by DC, about a boy who is given the ability to transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word "Shazam!" "You have to please the
original fans, but also make it survive on its own for people who might not be familiar with the series," Segal said. "So we try to do both, and that's constantly the balancing act. But I think the underlying similarity between adapting Shazam and adapting Get Smart is you have to love the source material, you have to embrace it. You can't look at it as a fixer-upper."
Segal denied rumors that various actors, including Patrick Warburton, are under consideration for the role of Captain Marvel. (Segal's Get Smart cast member Dwayne Johnson has confirmed that he's talked with Segal about playing the villainous Black Adam character in Shazam.)
"We haven't really discussed Patrick," Segal said. "I love
him, and I'm working with him right now. Never talked about that particular role with him. There have been a lot of rumors about [Captain Marvel]--and it's fun for me to read all the rumors. Not that Patrick wouldn't be good for it, but we have not spoken." --Patrick Lee, News
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