Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Djimon Hounsou reflects on biggest challenges of 25-year career and ‘redemption’ of DC role-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Djimon Hounsou has reflected on his part in Shazam! Fury of the Gods as ‘redeeming’ some of the hardship he’s gone through with challenging roles – as well as a challenge to get roles – in his 25-year-plus Hollywood career.

Born in Benin, West Africa, the 58-year-old actor was sent to France as a boy and first started his career as a model and dancer in music videos for artists like Tina Turner and Janet Jackson after moving to LA while barely speaking any English.

After a few bit parts in the 1990s, including in Stargate with James Spader and Kurt Russell, Hounsou got his big break in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad as Cinque in 1997, about the 1839 revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish-owned ship off the coast of Long Island.

Since then he’s garnered two Academy Award nominations – for In America and Blood Diamond, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio – and appeared in movies including Gladiator, The Tempest, Furious 7 and A Quiet Place Part II.

He’s also carved out a niche in blockbuster comic book adaptations, having also appeared as Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel as well as the Wizard in both Shazam! movies.

Chatting to Metro.co.uk at the London premiere for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Hounsou pondered over what he would have said to his younger self at the start of his career.

Hounsou, a two-time Oscar nominee, has been making waves in Hollywood for over 25 years (Picture: Getty)

‘Wow, it’s been 25 years? Listen, I wish I could say I did it all by myself but there’s a team and there’s also a huge need to believe in yourself and in what you’re doing, because again, time and time again – and especially when you start – you hear so many times no. “No, no, thank you, thank you but no,”’ he admitted.

‘So, you really have to stay strong, and I think films can [help you] aspire to really live out your dreams. Like [in] Shazam, your immediate family is not [necessarily] your blood family, you know, and it’s what you make of your friends that you meet when you embark on this life experience.’

The star also singled out some of his most prestigious parts, and both his Oscar-nominated performances, as the roles which have been among the greatest challenges of his career. 

He had his big break in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad in 1997 (Picture: Paramount/Dreamworks)

The actor’s second Academy Award nomination came for Blood Diamond, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio (Picture: Warner Bros)

‘Well, Amistad was a challenge, my first one with Steven Spielberg was definitely a challenge. I had the luxury of working with Jim Sheridan and for what that was, it was also quite a challenge – I remember that was not a happy moment to film that.’

Hounsou played a reclusive artist and photographer dying of AIDs in the film, which charted the difficult lives of a family of Irish immigrants living in a rundown Hell’s Kitchen tenement.

‘Blood Diamond was also a great challenge because it dealt with social issues that we’re still dealing with in the present day. And so, hopefully you have Shazam! Fury of the Gods, pictures like that, that redeem a little bit of the hardship that you go through at times,’ he added.

Hounsou singled out his heavy-hitting dramas, like In America, as some of the greatest challenges of his career (Picture: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock)

The star has plenty to do in the Shazam! sequel as the Wizard as he tries to support his champion Billy Batson and his siblings (Picture: Warner Bros)

Hounsou with his Shazam! Fury of the Gods co-stars (from left) Asher Angel, Dame Helen Mirren, Zachary Levi, Rachel Zegler, Lucy Liu and Jack Dylan Grazer (Picture: Alberto Pezzali/Invision/AP)

The actor deservedly gets plenty more screentime in the sequel, which even allows him to show off his comedic chops, in keeping with the irreverent style of the film and its lead, Zachary Levi.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods also gets an impressive jolt of star power (and ‘badass feminine energy’ according to star Levi) from the Daughters of Atlas, played by Dame Helen Mirren (Hespera), Rachel Zegler (Anthea) and Lucy Liu (Kalypso), who are keen to reclaim their power from Billy Batson (Asher Angel),  his adult superhero alter-ego (Levi) and foster family. 

‘Having Helen Mirren, Lucy Lui Rachel Zegler [in the film], they were met with such high anticipation and we really couldn’t wait to shoot the scenes with them – and of course Helen Mirren, I’d worked with her once before and this was my second time,’ enthuses Hounsou.

His Wizard gets stuck in with the action and epic battles between the goddesses and the ‘Shazamily’ of Billy and his foster siblings, all of whom have superpowers after Billy shared them out at the end of the first movie.

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Of his pivotal role in the new movie, Gladiator actor Hounsou teased: ‘I hope I did my bit to champion these kids to take over. I chose the champion, and I hope I chose the right champion because you come to find out in the second one that they’ve mishandled the power that I bestowed upon them. 

‘And so that is the reason why I’m back, to help them really believe in themselves.’

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is in cinemas now.

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