Rachel Zegler on Role in New Shazam Movie: ‘I Needed a Job’
Rachel Zegler recently opened up on her role in the newest Shazam movie, explaining that she did it because she “needed a job.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zegler was asked why she “stepped into the world of DC heroes.” The actress gave a humble smile to the camera and responded, “I… needed a job. I’m being so serious.”
.@RachelZegler on why she decided to take on her role in #ShazamMovie: pic.twitter.com/PYaTlrm2Ed
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 16, 2023
The actress explained that it was mid-pandemic when she was cast for Shazam. “I was not working, and I couldn’t get a job for the life of me because West Side Story hadn’t come out yet,” she continued, “It was really hard to book work for me, so I was really excited when this came in my inbox.”
Zegler’s candid interview shed more light on how actors have been affected by Covid, especially those who were still making names for themselves. She rose to fame after the release of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story in 2021. Prior, she had only been out of high school for two years, having graduated in 2019, only a year before the pandemic. Being just 21 years old and having to make her own career in the middle of a world-stopping pandemic, her struggles are even more relatable to those affected by Covid.
She also revealed that she initially turned down Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shortly after West Side Story. Though she ended up securing the role, she revealed in the Happy Sad Confused podcast that she was nervous about filming in Europe so far from home. Zegler’s experiences exemplify the struggles that young up-and-coming actors go through. But between Shazam, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Snow White, which is set to release in 2024, Zegler has more than overcome her struggles.
Though her experience was harrowing, more actors have come forward with similar stories of their struggles. Ke Huy Quan recently opened up on losing his health insurance during the pandemic before the release of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which he starred in. He explained on The Late Late Show that he needed at least one acting job to qualify for health insurance, which he was not able to secure. Fortunately, Everything Everywhere was a critical success, similar to Zegler’s story following West Side Story.
Ultimately, stories like Zegler’s and Quan’s give fans a look into the brutal world of acting. Zegler was one of 30,000 women that auditioned for West Side Story. How many of those women struggled just as she did?
Still, their stories symbolize what Quan deemed ‘the American dream’ in his Oscar acceptance speech. Their success is an inspiration to every other rising actor fighting for the spotlight.
Fans can watch Zegler in Shazam in theaters now.
Writer | Tweet me @avadlpn
