Shot during the pandemic (and pushed back a year from an originally planned Dec. 2020 release), American Underdog is an appealingly earnest family drama, one that often touches on the Warners’ Christian faith. Levi spoke exclusively with Parade.com about the “faith, family and football” of the touching new biopic.
A lot of what makes this movie work is your chemistry with Anna Paquin. Was that something you had to take extra time to develop?
No, it was from day one. Shooting in the pandemic makes that stuff even more difficult; you don’t really see each other outside of work so much because they want everybody staying at home and not moving around as much as possible. We were working together almost every day, so we had time to get to know each other, but the truth is: Anna is such a pro—she has been doing it for so long—that you just find it. It’s like if two basketball players are playing two-on-two. Even if they’ve never played together—they just understand. As soon as it was rehearsal time, it was there.
Did you and Anna get to meet your real-life counterparts before making the film?
Oh, yeah. The truth is I only got to hang out with them for about two days before we started shooting, but then they were on set almost 50 percent of the time. That was great, having the literal people there to reference. Kurt and I are not the same person, but there’s a lot of crossover in energy and essence. Anna and Brenda are very different—but at the same time, they’re spitfires, man! (laughs) They have a lot of passion in them, they have a lot of opinion in them… and they stand on that opinion. I think that’s part of what makes them so interesting, dynamic and fun—and why Brenda and Kurt’s relationship was so integral to their whole story. This movie is really more about the family than it is about the football.
Something that this movie does maybe better than any other sports biopic in memory is show a man work really, really hard—but still be a good man: not sacrificing family or faith. Success is great, but American Underdog seems more interested in what’s even more important than success. As a successful and acclaimed actor, how did you relate to this?
I believe it’s scripture, or maybe it’s an old adage [Matthew 16:26]: “What is it gain the whole world, but to lose yourself or your soul in the process?” The fortitude—the backbone of somebody like Kurt—is something I aspire to —and relate to. I know as an actor I don’t want to sacrifice my morality or my integrity; I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Kurt understood that. He was a 21-year-old college football player meeting this 24-year-old divorcée with two kids—her youngest kid was disabled—and she even says it in the movie: “Why would you want to be with me?” He could go do whatever; he’s a college stud! But even at 21 he had this grounded thing about him. He didn’t run after distractions, and I think that’s a part of why his dream ultimately did manifest. If you are taking shortcuts, cutting corners or essentially compromising your integrity… then you might get there, but how stable will it be? How long will it last? How fulfilling will it be? Look—I dunno—maybe there are people who’ve cut all kinds of corners and they get to the top and they’re so stoked. But I can’t relate to that type of person; I don’t understand. That’s a part of Kurt’s character, and something I felt very akin to. It was in the script, and my job was just to bring it to life in a real way.
A vast majority of people will find it easier to relate to a man with values—and certainly to root for him.
That’s not to say that he’s perfect, or to say that anyone is perfect. We all stumble, we all fall, we’re all broken. But to highlight someone who, even through all that imperfection, is still trying to do what is right, to hold on to what is most valuable… He realized that he was holding onto his identity and value in sports so much, once he relaxed on that—and gave more to Brenda and the family— as soon as he did that, this thing that evaded him became even more real.
Some observers call American Underdog a “faith-based movie.” Is that a fair label?
They can call movies whatever they want as far as I’m concerned. I don’t call it a faith-based movie because it’s not based on faith; It’s got faith in it. It’s telling a true story about real people who have their journey of faith they’ve been on their whole lives. It is absolutely a part of the DNA of what the movie is by all means. I think the best way I’ve been able to sum this movie up is “faith, family and football.” And it’s not necessarily in that order. The movie is family-based. It’s dream-based. It’s faith-based to the extent that there’s faith in the movie—and Kurt had to have a tremendous amount of faith in himself. That’s a whole other part of the faith that I think is applicable to what journey is. A lot of people have faith in God or a Higher Power, but not in themselves. They don’t think they can achieve, so they sit stagnant and don’t go after those things. A lot of that comes down to self-love. I think that’s something everybody needs to do a lot more of: recognizing that we need to love ourselves, and that’s not a selfish or narcissistic thing—it’s actually very healthy. It’s a reflection of God’s love for us. …Maybe “faith-adjacent”—I think the only reason I would make a delineation is because we’ve already had what are very clearly “faith-based” movies up to this point. And those tend to be a lot of message, a lot of sermon. That can be very helpful for a lot of people. In my experience, unfortunately, the thing I find in the “faith-based” specifically world is a lot of times there’s a movie with a great message, but it’s not a great package. It’s not really a great movie, per se. Not to say you can’t make movies for the flock, that’s great, too…I personally want to make movies that get to everyone. I want inspirational stories that inspire hope and faith to get to people that don’t have a lot of hope and faith. I think this movie does that; there’s a natural inspirational aspect to it you can’t get around. This s**t really happened (laughs). It was an honor to get to play [Kurt] at least in this chapter of what his life’s work was.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens in June 2023. Were you surprised by how positive the response to the original Shazam! was?
This is the truth: when I first saw Shazam!, I struggled with it. As a person, we’re all our own worst critic. As an actor, that gets amplified infinitely. There’s so much insecurity. You’re looking up at yourself on a massive screen; I’m looking at my face, eviscerating myself, also looking at these various acting choices like is that even funny? Did the audience laugh? Did they not laugh? The first time I saw it I thought I was gonna get panned. So I talked that out with some people close to me, prayed that away and let it go. Then, all my insecurities proved to be, oh, a bunch of lies that fly through my head! Shocker. People genuinely enjoyed it. And the more I’ve gotten to remove myself from it—which is difficult—the more I can look and say objectively, we made a great little movie. Little in comparison to other superhero movies.
Before we go, anything to report about a potential Chuck reunion?
I have no update other than I’ve been in contact with [series co-creator] Josh Schwartz and I think that he may be down to jump into this thing with me! That’s the only update I have right now (laughs). American Underdog is now playing in theaters nationwide. Next, check out the best New Year’s movies of all time.
