‘West Side Story’ star Rachel Zegler joins ‘Shazam 2’ cast (exclusive)

Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming musical “West Side Story,” has joined the cast of “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” for DC and New Line, TheWrap exclusively learned.

Zegler will play a key role with details kept under wraps. Zegler also becomes the second Colombian American to be cast in a DC superhero project, after Sasha Calle joins the cast of “The Flash” as Supergirl.

“Shazam: Fury of the Gods” is a highly anticipated sequel to the 2019 New Line and DC Comics film “Shazam!” It will continue the story of teenage Billy Batson who, reciting the magic word “Shazam!” is struck by the living lightning of the gods and transformed into his adult superhero alter ego, Shazam.

Also read: Watch New ‘West Side Story’ Star Rachel Zegler Belt Out ‘Shallow’ from ‘A Star Is Born’ (Video)

Zachary Levi will reprise his role as a child-at-heart superhero endowed with the powers of six gods: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and speed. of Mercury. While Shazam is a formidable champion, Billy Batson is still just a fun-loving kid trying to navigate high school while learning to use these powers.

David F. Sandberg returns to direct the sequel to a screenplay by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan. Peter Safran produced by The Safran Company alongside Geoff Johns of Mad Ghost Productions. “Shazam” is based on the DC character created by Bill Parker and CC Beck.

“Shazam!” was the world’s first film on its opening weekend in 2019, making over $ 366 million worldwide on a relatively modest budget for a superhero movie. The film, which starred Asher Angel as teenage Billy and Jack Dylan Grazer as his sidekick, earned a CinemaScore “ A ” with Audience and a stellar 90% certified score from Rotten Tomatoes.

Also read: Zachary Levi to star in ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ live-action at Sony

Rachel Zegler is a singer and songwriter raised in New Jersey by her American father and Colombian mother. She was one of 30,000 people to audition to play the remake of Maria in Spielberg of the classic “West Side Story,” and plays Ansel Elgort as Tony. She first played the role in a presentation of the School of the Performing Arts at the Bergen Performing Arts Center. Zegler will star alongside Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar as Anita in the original version of the film “West Side Story”, as well as Tony winner David Alvarez, Tony contestant Ariana DeBose and Josh Andres Rivera. in the role of Chino.

Zegler has an entire YouTube channel with covers of pop songs and Broadway standards, including his own take on “Shallow,” the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper duo on the Internet in “A Star Is Born”. In fact, a short video singing the song in front of an empty auditorium has gone viral on Twitter with over 11.5 million views.

Zegler has also previously shared videos of herself playing the role of Maria in a 2017 high school production of “West Side Story,” including her final monologue and a video titled “West Side Story in Five Minutes.”

Zegler is replaced by ICM Partners.

“Shazam! Fury of the God ”will be released on June 2, 2023.

For the record: a previous version of this misspelled “West Side Story” story.