00:00What I really meant by, this is a new era in the DC universe, is listening to the fans.
00:09Listening to the fans.
00:10Now, and doing our best to give the fans what they want.
00:14Sean, it's good to see you.
00:20It's good to see that t-shirt.
00:21I like it a lot.
00:22Let's start with that.
00:23Mr. Cavill asked me to wear this to intimidate you.
00:28He's intimidated me enough lately.
00:32So I went back to the CinemaBlend archives and found a story that we wrote in September
00:36of 2014 of you tweeting, kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot.
00:42And you're going to be playing Black Adam in a Shazam movie for New Line.
00:46So my point being, for almost a decade, you have stood by this character and this project
00:50and knowing how projects can come and go in Hollywood and even dream projects can hit
00:56What was it about this one in particular that made you stick with it for this amount of
01:00time?
01:01I had a sense in my gut.
01:02I really had a strong feeling that there would be something really appealing about Black
01:08Adam to the world.
01:10And that if done right, there would be maybe a good amount of people who could see themselves
01:15in Black Adam.
01:16But then also, man, if done right, we could really shake up the universe.
01:21We could shake up the DC universe.
01:24I get it.
01:25And you know the business very well in that for a studio executive, when it's time to
01:30make those investments, it's easy to make those investments with IP that everybody knows
01:36and loves.
01:37I love, like you and us, I love Superman.
01:39I love your shirt.
01:40I love Henry, Batman, you name it, Wonder Woman.
01:42I love the Justice League.
01:46But it was time.
01:47I felt even back then that it's time for new blood and fresh blood.
01:52And if you look at the DC Bible and the pantheon of these characters, man, they're such cool
01:59characters that you could show.
02:00Yes, Black Adam, who I just personally was so invested in, but also, hold on, you've
02:06got the JSA who's sitting over here for decades and decades and decades that predated the
02:12Justice League.
02:13In no way do I want to step on Justice League.
02:15I love the Justice League because I'm a DC boy from a punk little kid.
02:18I'm still a punk little kid.
02:21I love DC and I love Justice League, but let's expand this thing and let's introduce the
02:26JSA too as well.
02:27So to your point, to your question, there was just, there were a lot of elements about
02:30this that just kept me inspired, kept me motivated.
02:34And by the way, from that tweet, I was so excited.
02:40We were so excited.
02:41It was almost 10 years ago, as you know.
02:43And even then, they had a rollout of the next four or five years and Black Adam was
02:50at the end of that list and it's easy to go, all right, well, I'll put it to the side,
02:56but I didn't want to do that, man.
02:57I truly felt like, hey, we have an opportunity here.
03:00So here we are.
03:02You have two choices.
03:04You can be the destroyer of this world or you can be its savior.
03:11Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be with you.
03:12How's your day?
03:13I'm good, Sean.
03:14Fantastic.
03:15Good to meet you.
03:16I dig the stash.
03:17Let's see what's up.
03:18Thank you very much.
03:19Mr. Brosnan, I saw in a GQ video recently and then definitely noticed in the finished
03:23cut of this film, the wedding ring and the watch.
03:26And I know that those are part of your personal collection, but I was hoping that you can
03:29maybe talk about why you chose to include them as part of this character's development.
03:33Well, thank you.
03:34Yes.
03:35Well, Kent Nelson, he had a wife, Enzo was his wife.
03:41He is in my books, he was a widower.
03:44And so my wife, Keely, I love watches and she gave me a beautiful Blancpain there 15,
03:5220 years ago.
03:54And the inscription is, time flies on love's wings.
04:00And so I thought it was very fitting to wear it as a timepiece for this character.
04:07And the wedding ring is my wedding ring.
04:09And there is a silver amulet on my right wrist, which is Haida art, which is the mythology
04:16of the whales.
04:19And so, you know, those three objects became talisman for me.
04:26And I don't normally wear them in movies, but that's some of how Dr. Fate came into
04:35my being.
04:36In this world, there are heroes.
04:40I feel the pain of my city wherever I go.
04:44And there are villains.
04:47Heroes don't kill people.
04:53Well, I do.
04:54Your director called him the Dirty Harry of superheroes.
04:58And there's a great Good and Bad and Ugly reference inside this movie too, it plays
05:02with the Westerns a little bit.
05:03To what extent did Clint Eastwood influence your performance?
05:07Greatly.
05:09Clint Eastwood has always been my favorite actor.
05:12Wow.
05:13Always.
05:14And especially those movies in the past, Unforgiven 2 as well.
05:19I mean, all of his movies, but especially those Westerns.
05:23And I will say especially Unforgiven.
05:26He has always been my favorite actor.
05:27I had the honor to meet him.
05:28He surprised me a few years ago, and it was a true honor.
05:33And so the influence, you'll see that influence.
05:36And when I was talking to Jalma, Jalma did come up with that, and he goes, well, let's
05:40make the Dirty Harry of the superhero genre.
05:45Let's do it.
05:46Let's be disruptive.
05:47Go ahead.
05:48Make my day.
05:49So I thank you for bringing up Jalma, man, because it really gives me an opportunity
05:53to acknowledge not only his vision, because he had very specific vision on how he wanted
05:59to disrupt, how he saw this interpretation of disrupting, surrounded himself.
06:04Lauren Shear, by the way, our DP, who's now on Joker 2, back on Joker 2.
06:08Just incredible.
06:09He assembled an incredible team.
06:11But also just for me personally, this role was a departure from really anything I've
06:19ever done.
06:20So he really helped me too as well.
06:23I like those kind of characters that operate in the gray.
06:28Or you know, Black Adam, we are kind of discovering this character that we don't know much about
06:38him.
06:39And he comes into a town that kind of has been oppressed by some bad guys and he frees
06:47them.
06:48So that had a kind of a Western feel, like we've seen Western movies that have done that.
06:53So we just played a little bit with that.
06:56But so it's not like it's not a Western, it's not Dirty Harry, it's a little bit of that
07:01overall character that when the system kind of is broken and which we've seen in a lot
07:08of movies, especially in the 70s, you need someone who doesn't follow the rules to kind
07:15of help the innocent or the people who are not protected.
07:21And that's what Black Adam kind of lives and can thrive.
07:24We're here to negotiate your peaceful surrender.
07:28I'm not peaceful.
07:30Nor do I surrender.
07:32A lot has been made about how difficult it can be for someone like Dwayne Johnson to
07:35disappear into a role.
07:37We look at him and we see the rock.
07:39But I'm just curious if there was a moment on set or a scene in particular where you
07:44finally looked at him and thought, like, oh, I don't see Dwayne Johnson anymore.
07:46I see I only see Black Adam.
07:48Oh, from the first time I saw him in the suit, I think.
07:51Yeah, absolutely.
07:52I think the way that he kind of has like melted and blended himself into this character is
07:58just like amazing.
08:00And so, you know, like Noah said, like a little bit is, you know, when we were all there
08:05together, it was incredible.
08:06It's like, OK, you know, this is like someone completely different and a side of DJ that
08:11we, like, you know, may not have seen before.
08:14And it's intimidating just naturally and very cool and just, you know, he's incredible to
08:20work with.
08:21So it was like a, you know, it was amazing.
08:25I got to be honest, this is no hype.
08:27I'm not completely objective.
08:30I felt that way immediately.
08:31Yes.
08:32I felt that way immediately.
08:33And it was I think it was the apartment was the first scene we shot together and just
08:38seeing him be so dry and evil, but casual about it, yeah, like it was just hysterical
08:45to me.
08:46And in that moment, I was like, oh, this is special.
08:49This is really what the amazing body of work that he has is all culminating and coming
08:56to a really fantastic way with Black Adam.
09:00And then the other scenes, whenever he's just floating above you when you're filming, I
09:06don't know if you've ever experienced this, but that's pretty ridiculous, like the perfect
09:11lighting and he's just there and it's glowing behind him.
09:15I looked at him when we were doing the pickups was like, this is just fucking ridiculous.
09:20I mean, I have no other way.
09:21He did that to me last week.
09:23I walked outside and he was outside my house just floating over me.
09:26I mean, I don't fly.
09:28I get big.
09:29That's what I do.
09:30I don't care how many projects that you get to do over the course of your career, a superhero
09:33or playing a superhero and a blockbuster like this is going to be special for so many
09:37various reasons.
09:38And I want to know what you remember about the day on set that you saw yourself in a
09:42finalized version of what your Adam Smasher costume was going to look like.
09:46Well, it wasn't on set, actually, it was in a fitting.
09:50And I was with Kurt and Bart and, you know, the team of stylists.
09:56And I sat there, they gave it to me and I put the hood on and they zipped me up and
10:00then I turned and I faced the mirror and the four-year-old in me just like exploded.
10:05It was so cool.
10:08I couldn't believe it.
10:09It was like, oh my God, this is real.
10:11Let's do it.
10:12And then we showed up on set and that was a whole different vlog.
10:16This is phenomenally special in so many different ways.
10:20This is very rare air that we get to breathe as actors.
10:24Regardless of how many projects come along, there aren't many projects that can fit this
10:31bill, right?
10:32So, I understand how special and unique this is.
10:37Stepping into seeing myself in the costume and sort of the full nature of things, I never
10:43really fully saw everything until, you know, the film was pretty much done where I saw
10:49myself full wings and all and the very first time I saw that, it was everything beyond
10:57what I could have ever imagined.
10:59And I knew it was special to me before, but that just completely, you know, expounded
11:04things a thousand fold because that's when you really see all of the hard work that you
11:12put in, every choice that you made, it all really comes together in a glorious way.
11:19It's so far beyond, it's so much better than, it's so much more grand than what you could
11:25have imagined.
11:26And you just sit back and you kind of live in the wonderment of that.
11:31And it's an experience that's really hard to explain because it's almost like you don't
11:36believe it.
11:37So, for me, I'm still sort of in the living, in the high of what that felt like.
11:43You know, you get to watch it with fans.
11:46Just wait to get to watch it with an audience.
11:47I cannot wait for that.
11:49I can't wait.
11:50Be prepared.
11:51You guys have been having to talk about this film for a long time.
11:54The release date keeps getting pushed, or kept getting pushed back.
11:57And for the right reason.
11:58We wanted to wait until it was in theaters and fans could enjoy it together.
12:01But because of that, you guys have had to deal with very vocal fans.
12:04I'm just curious what it's been like hearing the anticipation for the movie and just the
12:09hype that gets built up for it.
12:11How plugged into that were you guys even, or did you just put it out of your mind and
12:15when it opens, it opens?
12:16Out of the mind.
12:17Out of the mind.
12:18Out of the mind.
12:19Yeah, I wasn't really looking at any of it.
12:20But what I can tell you, and maybe you agree with me when I say this, it feels like a tsunami
12:23wave is coming.
12:24Yeah.
12:25I feel like we're just getting swept up in this tidal wave right now and the excitement
12:29is growing.
12:30And we were just in Mexico City, you know, and we had thousands of people around us just
12:37chanting and they were so amped.
12:39And we have been so excited for the last year and a half since we started this project.
12:45And now to see that coming back at us is surreal.
12:49And I think for me too, in the beginning when the first release came out, I was so excited,
12:58so proud.
12:59I was like, yo, I'm playing this character.
13:00And I saw a few of how people felt about me playing this character that's represented
13:07differently in the comic.
13:09And for me, that was the start of being like, all right, cool.
13:13That's how you feel.
13:15That's how you think.
13:16But I know I'm going to bring something special and authentic that goes past the bounds of
13:21race, gender, identity, whatever, and make something that I'm proud of and that is a
13:27solid representation of who this character is in the comics.
13:31And that was exactly my goal and I couldn't be more proud of it and more proud of everyone
13:37else.
13:38Good.
13:39That's also what the block button is for, when you see stupid shit like that.
13:42No, because I'm just like, I can't block it.
13:44People should see how mean people are.
13:47But also at the same time, it's like, what are you going to do?
13:50You can only keep going and keep doing the work.
13:53Fuck you.
13:54Period.
13:55Point up at the screen and say, that's me.
13:56All day.
13:57Sorry, that's the thing.
13:58All day.
13:59That's Cyclone now.
14:00Look, that's who it is.
14:01However you feel about it, that's Cyclone.
14:06That's Cyclone.
14:07I just got goosebumps.
14:08They're going to kick me out of here, but do you plan at this moment to make the movie
14:12that is teased in the end credits?
14:15Absolutely.
14:17That is the whole point of this, man.
14:21Thank you for asking that.
14:22And I have been saying for some time, there's a new era in the DC universe that's about
14:33to begin.
14:35And what I meant by that was introducing a brand new character.
14:38It's not a sequel, not an existing IP.
14:40It was Black Adam.
14:43Two years ago, the world had no idea who he was.
14:46We did, but not the rest of the mass out there.
14:50Introducing the JSA.
14:52Introducing that new era of the DC universe.
14:55But also, what I really meant by this is a new era in the DC universe is listening to
15:03the fans.
15:05Listening to the fans.
15:07Now, in doing our best to give the fans what they want, and maybe sometimes down the road,
15:11and I went through this in pro wrestling, is you can't always give them what you want,
15:16but you'll always know that we're listening.
15:18And in this case, with what you and I are talking about, I have been listening and I've
15:25been wanting to address fans for years, because I've been waiting for someone to step up and
15:31address the fans and say, hey, we hear you.
15:34So finally, after many months turned into many years, we ended up with what we ended
15:43up at, and the whole goal and intention now is to this new era, new time, now let's build
15:50out.
15:51There's no one on this planet that can stop me.
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