Grace Caroline Currey Discusses Her Dual Shazam! Fury Of The Gods Role And The Film's Cast - Exclusive Interview
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" is finally here, and actress Grace Caroline Currey plays two roles in the film. Given that her character, Mary, is fully an adult during the events of the sequel, it's only natural that she wouldn't need a grown-up alter ego anymore when the Shazam! magic takes hold. The magic turns the kids into their full potential, after all, and it looks like Mary has hit that mark all on her own. Of course, playing two roles in one movie is no easy task, but Currey took it on with — dare we say it — grace.
Before Currey landed her "Shazam!" role, she guest-starred on shows like "Bones," "Ghost Whisperer," and "Awkward." She also starred in films like "Vampire Dad," "Most Guys Are Losers," and "Fall" — and horror fans might have seen her as Carol in "Annabelle: Creation." Looper spoke to Currey during an exclusive interview, where she discussed the "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" cast, her hopes for the franchise's future, and her favorite superhero.
Found family on and off the screen
The found family dynamic is even more present in this movie than in the original film. How does that aspect help "Shazam!" stand out in the superhero genre? Has that family vibe extended to the set as well?
It's definitely been expanded to our cast and how we feel for one another. We've got a group chat checking in on each other from time to time, wishing each other happy birthday. The group chat was hilarious right before the premiere.
Everyone's saying, "When are you getting there? Who's there yet? I'm on my way." It can get a little chaotic. But it is funny, isn't it, that in the movie, there's a theme of found family, and here are a bunch of actors who've found family amongst each other as well.
You get to work with Zachary Levi and Rachel Zegler a lot in this film. What was that experience like, and do you have any fun stories from set?
Zach is this generous-hearted, larger-than-life, fun human. He had a home in Georgia while we were shooting, and our cast would go back there after we would wrap. We'd go back to Zach's and either swim in the pool, barbecue, lay on the couch, [or] zone out on our phones. Zach's home was the hub. There was some random day I got a message saying, "We're having pancakes at Zach's," and I went, "Okay, I'm on my way to Zach's." Working with Zach was ... He's so much fun. He's always carrying his boombox around.
Rachel — it was so fun to get to gain a friend on the set. The added characters that we have ... it felt like they were meant to be with us all along.
Working with Hollywood legends
Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren take on roles of gods in the film. What was it like working with such icons? Did they offer you any advice, and did you learn anything from them about acting or life in general?
What was so special was when I was filming the sequence with Helen, where Darla and Mary give her a nice flip in the air, [which] took about a week with rehearsing and capturing all the details. I got to spend more time with Helen.
Around [that] time, "Fall" was coming out, which was my first lead role where I was in every single scene of the movie. It was new for me to have something like that coming out, and I got to talk to Helen about it. She was so gracious and loved to see ... She wanted to see the stunts I did. I was showing her my camera roll of how tall the tower was. It was lovely to be able to share about the season of life I was in and how she acknowledged that it was so special and such a big deal for it to be my first leading role coming out and what a special time it was.
A great big universe of CGI
There's an iconic scene that takes place at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. Was anything actually shot there, or was that all CGI?
We had a massive sound stage for when I worked on [that] particular scene. I only went to that park [at] the culmination of that scene. That specific part with me was in the studio, but I don't know about the other parts because I wasn't there.
The special effects and CGI work is stunning in "Fury of the Gods." What are those technical components like to film, and were you surprised at all with the final result?
It's funny, isn't it? When you're shooting, you're a lot of the time working with ... This one, we had animatronic machines that created the illusion of us galloping on unicorns. It was like the structure of a horse with some hair. It actually moved and created the effect of us looking like [we were] galloping, and they blew fans in our faces. Seeing the finished scene and how awesome it looks was really rewarding, because we were bouncing around on those machines.
We had a couple [of] days of the horseback riding — unicorn back riding, if you will — sequence. We were all bruised from riding these mechanical unicorns, or at least our inner thighs were sore, because horseback riding is no joke. Making it mechanical and galloping the whole time — that's quite something.
Djimon Hounsou rides horses and loves horses, and he was in that scene with me. We would look at each other, and he'd be like, "It's a lot to ride."
Taking on two roles
You get to interact with a lot of the adults here, so what has that transition been like, getting to work with Adam Brody and all of those guys?
I was the superhero in this one. I got to do all the flying and the stunt work this time around, which was really special and quite a bit of work to be playing two roles, bouncing between the human role and the superhero role.
Oh my gosh, Adam Brody's so fun. He is so funny. The whole adult cast is so quick and sharp and witty that I feel like we're always making jokes and laughing — not to mention having the video games on set, which the guys were playing the whole time. It was great fun the whole time, and such an honor to be working amongst those actors who have long careers. Even though I've been working since I was six years old, and it's been 20 years now, it's awesome to be amongst these people who are legends in their own right and have had immense pop culture times and shows that they've been a part of, and films. I loved being in that group. They're awesome.
"Fury of the Gods" dives heavily into mythology. Is that something that you researched before filming, and is there a piece of mythology or folklore that you'd love to see any future movies tackle?
I didn't dive into the Greek mythology quite as much, because Mary's piecing it together as the movie happens, and it's more of her experiencing it from an outside perspective and not knowing it 100%. Certainly, it's been interesting to hear some fan theories from people who are diving into Greek mythology and trying to piece together the story before they can see it. Some of them are pretty right on, digging into the characters and finding some information there. As far as Greek mythology goes ... Wonder Woman is such a fun relative to our goddesses; I think she's a cousin of [theirs]. But I'm always hoping for more of the classic Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel — the old-school, golden age comic "Shazam!"
I'm always hoping that we get an opportunity to bring in some of the old-school characters like Uncle Dudley, and there were some kooky animals that could talk in the comic at one point. Certainly, with the magical doors that we have, we could go into all sorts of crazy worlds where we encounter those sorts of characters.
Navigating a crossroads
Mary is at a bit of a crossroads at the beginning of the movie. She's aged out of the foster care system, and she didn't go away to college. What are your hopes for her in future films, and how do you suppose that her becoming an adult and Billy soon becoming an adult will affect the group dynamic?
The funny thing is, Mary, in the first one, definitely was the oldest sibling holding the family together. She's also falling apart from being too stressed trying to keep a 5.0 GPA, which is impossible. In this one, she's definitely ready to move on, and you can see her looking to Billy going, "Okay, it's time for you to step up and be the oldest sibling here. I'm ready for you to take over so I can go." Ideally, that looks like her going to college and finally getting to grow outside of her foster home.
That foster home has been such a sense of security for her and a place where she's needed, and she's able to feel loved and cared for. I'd love to see her character have some expansion and go to college.
Billy idolizes Wonder Woman, and Freddy loves Superman, but what hero do you think Mary looks up to, and who's your personal favorite?
That's such a good question, because her hero is probably an organic chemist that I don't know the name of. I haven't looked into organic chemists, actually. She loves organic chemistry so much. She's poring [over] that book all the time. She's not particularly the type to be paying attention to superheroes; she's very consumed with real, everyday life and the people in her direct vicinity. She focuses on them and isn't concerned with the big, flashy, courageous people out there. She's just trying to hold down the fort at her home.
My personal favorite superhero though — because I'm not Mary and I don't have an organic chemistry superhero — I love Batman. Batman's my guy. I love that he's a detective. I actually feel like he and Mary have a lot of similarities with the quiet, in-their-head situation going on there and how there's a lot of smarts being used to figure out what the situation is [and] how you get out of it. I love Batman.
That's awesome. That's got to be the cameo for the next movie.
I sure hope so. I keep putting it out there. I'm like, "It makes sense." [It] really doesn't, but ...
We can pretend.
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" is now playing exclusively in theaters.
This interview has been edited for clarity.