‘Shazam!’ star Zachary Levi left Los Angeles for a 75-acre Texas ranch in 2017; now he is building a $100 million film hub designed as an alternative to Hollywood | English Movie News
“Shazam!” star Zachary Levi left Los Angeles in 2017 after selling his home and buying a 75-acre ranch outside Austin, Texas. Nearly nine years later, the actor is turning that property into Wyldwood Studios, a $100 million film and lifestyle campus that aims to offer a different way of working in the entertainment industry.Levi, 45, recently spoke about his decision to leave California during an interview with Fox News Digital alongside his “The Fix” co-star Liam Neeson. The actor said his decision was influenced both by his views about California and by his long-standing belief that the entertainment industry could work differently. “I grew up in California. I love California. It is a failed state,” Levi said. “It is literally and figuratively on fire.”Levi said he had wanted to change the way the entertainment industry worked since he began working in Hollywood. He said he felt “very compelled by God” to build what he described as “a better Hollywood”.“Ever since I started working in Hollywood and I saw how broken it all was, I felt very compelled by God to go build a better Hollywood, like a new United Artists kind of studio, where it’s owned and operated by the artists, where we can cut out all the middlemen, where we all can do really well, build a community,” Levi said.
From a Texas ranch to a film campus
Levi said his idea was not limited to creating another place where films could be made. He wanted the project to combine work and everyday life, with space for people to live and for children to attend school.“And then not just a place to work,” he continued. “People can live there, and kids can go to school there. And we have an organic farm, and, like, all of the things that I think everybody really wants these days.”He said the idea developed after he found the 75-acre property outside Austin about nine years ago. “So, that all culminated in nine years ago, me finding 75 acres outside of Austin, Texas, to buy, to develop, to turn into this magical kind of idea. That’s why I left.”That vision is now taking shape as Wyldwood Studios in Bastrop County, outside Austin. The $100 million project is planned as a hybrid production hub and creative retreat. It will include soundstages and production offices, along with housing and wellness spaces. The project is being developed in multiple phases. Its first two soundstages are expected to open in 2027.For Levi, the move also meant giving up parts of the life he had built in Southern California. He said he left behind family, community and what he described as perfect weather because he believed the project was more important.“I left behind a lot of community and family and perfect weather in Southern California, but when you weigh it all out and you must; you have to come to these points in your life, and you go, ‘Is all of that really worth the thing that I know I’m supposed to go build in the future to make a better world?’ And, to me, that calling on my life was more important,” he said.Levi said he has adjusted to life in Texas despite the weather. “Fortunately, Austin’s awesome. It’s great, you know?” he said. “It can get kinda hot in the summer and kinda cold in the wintertime, but I can deal with it. There’s no thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing,” he added.
Levi takes on a darker role
While building his new film hub, Levi is also moving into a different kind of role with “The Fix”. The actor is best known for projects such as the action-comedy series “Chuck” and the “Shazam!” superhero films, but he wanted his new film to be different from his earlier work.Directed by Guy Moshe, “The Fix” follows former CIA operatives who have become disillusioned after the 2021 US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Levi plays Tucker, who leads the group, while Neeson plays his longtime mentor Larry.After a mission goes wrong, the group begins a high-risk operation in Tehran. The story follows their attempt to carry out a rescue while also dealing with their past decisions and questions about redemption.“I wanted to do something fun, gritty, darker, in comparison to other roles that I’ve played in the past, and this gave me that and then some, because there was all of the great spycraft and twists and turns and revelations throughout the story, as well as this human foundation,” Levi said.He said the film also gave him a chance to explore questions about the characters and their choices. “‘Who are these people in real life? Why are they doing the things that they’re doing? What is this redemption that they are trying to seek?’ The moral ambiguity of all of that, of, like, who’s really the good guy and who’s the bad guy. I think these are really cool themes to explore. And I got to do them with the Liam Neeson.”Neeson praised Levi and Moshe while discussing the film. “It is a terrific script,” he said. “Really, really good, talented director and writer.”“He’s a wonderful actor,” Neeson added of Levi. “I’m not just saying that because he’s here, but he is wonderful.”
