Meet the New Fandral of Thor: The Dark World: Zachary Levi! ~ #ThorDarkWorldEvent

Original Photo: MomStart.com. Photo edits by me.

One week ago, THOR: THE DARK WORLD open in theaters nationwide! If you haven’t seen it yet… RUN to your nearest theater. I can’t say enough about the awesomeness of this movie. Hopefully you’ve been checking out all the Thor coverage on my blog, including my experience at the red carpet premiere of THOR: THE DARK WORLD! While out there, I had the chance to interview Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, and Jaimie Alexander, who play Sif. They were the only two Thor stars though that my fellow 24 other bloggers and I were able to sit down with. We also were able to interview Zachary Levi, who took over the role of Thor’s friend Fandral!

Zachary entered in the interview room with an absolutely glowing smile! Now I’ll admit, I had heard of him before, but really only knew him as the voice of Flynn Rider from Disney’s Tangled. From the moment he walked in, he seemed warm, friendly, and excited for the interview. It was then I couldn’t wait to interview the new Fandral and see what Zachary Levi was all about!

Original Photo: Marshall Weinbaum. Photo Edits by me.

Below I’ve included some highlights from the interview. I have to tell you… Zachary is quite the comedian! He had us nonstop laughing throughout the interview. For instance, when a blogger noted that her daughter was in love with Flynn Rider, Zachary wittingly replied “Tell her Eugene Fitz Harbor said hi!”

The first question was actually submitted by a fan. They asked how “battered and bruised” he became during the filming. Zachary gave the most hilarious look of shock! Of course he was just playing around, and in time answered that he dislocated a rib at one point, but that was a “freak accident”. Jokingly, he noted that probably the worst thing that happened to him was that he slammed his finger in his trailer door. The remedy? With a big smile, he replied “just ice and alcohol”.

Were you nervous about taking this role and being part of this huge franchise?

ZACHARY: I was nervous about coming in and-and having any ill-will from any of the rest of the cast, knowing that Josh (Dallas) had played it in the first film. Some of the cast knew, like Tom and Jaimie, that I was originally going to be Fandral. Then Chuck got in the way and I wasn’t able to do it. Josh was able to play the role and did a fantastic job.

I didn’t want to feel like the guy who’s coming in and like taking someone’s job away. His role on Once Upon a Time conflicted. It was like what happened to me, happened to him and came back around. That was the only thing I was kind of nervous about. Being apart of the Marvel Universe is nothing to be nervous about. I think it’s, you should just celebrate that. You get to be apart of this incredible comic book, lineage and family and universe that they’ve built. One of the first days on set Tom gave me a big hug and said “Welcome, glad you were finally able to come and do this.” I felt that love from everybody. So I wasn’t nervous beyond that.

Original Photo by MomStart,com

Did you bring a little bit of Flynn Riders charm to your role?

ZACHARY: Yes, you know you bring a little bit of yourself to every role you do. It’s really just kind of a matter of is this a charming character? Is he a loyal character, is he not? Is he trust worthy? Is he loving? Is he menacing? Is he strong, is he weak, is he nerdy? I feel like I’ve played my share of nerdy characters, and that’s an easy dial for me.

Flynn Rider was a dream come true. I grew up doing nothing but watching Disney cartoons and movies, and particularly musicals, and loving all of them, and dreaming about getting to do just that. What was interesting is when I first auditioned for Flynn Rider, he was English, he had a British accent. The original Flynn Rider and Fandral the Dashing are much more similar than people realize. Flynn ended up becoming much more my own kind of intonation voice. Fandral was just this incredible… There’s a parallel in the charm, I think with the two of them. Fandral is very much more British. Well he’s Asgardean, but they all speak with British accents. So I don’t know. So Bris-Gardian?

Were you a fan of comics before the film?

ZACHARY: Absolutely. I was really big in X-Men, the whole kind of mutant category, like X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force, New Mutants, all that kind of stuff I really, really loved. Spider-Man, Iron Man to an extent, Captain America. I went through phases depending on how old I was, or what I was into at the time.I’d be like “I’m kind of done with that, now I really want to focus on these characters.”

Thor is a very unique Marvel character. He’s actually unique amongst all the comics books, because he’s not somebody who was irregular guy who was thrust into extraordinary situations. He’s a god. How do you relate to that guy? I think Marvel’s done a very good job in trying bring him down to Earth and have him relatable to human beings. They’ve done a great job by bringing Jane into that in the first movie. He falls for a human…

What’s it like to now play such a badass?

ZACHARY: Ah, badass is what it feels like! I got to do some really, really fun stuff as Chuck, and kissed a lot of beautiful women. I had some great fight scenes and all that stuff, but I’m already kind of a thin, lankier, limber guy. The difference between like a, like a me and a Jason Statham is very evident. Hey he’s like a world class athlete who also knows martial arts, right? Though he’s about a foot shorter than me and like stocky. So when he throws a punch it’s snappy. It’s real, real snappy. When I was Chuck with nerdy and floppy hair, and I learned Kung fu, it’s the nerdy version of Kung fu. It’s not the coolest version of Kung fu. The stuff I love doing the most on Chuck was not even the fights as mush as just the kind of stunts.

But now to get to be a guy who is definitively a badass is just fun. He’s blonde and British. British Asgardean, whatever that is again. I’ve had some people tweet me internationally where the movie’s now already been released and I’ve seen some tweets like “I didn’t know it was you until the credits.” To me, that’s the greatest thing I could ever hear. I think any actor hopes that your performance and your look and whatever you do is so kind of transcendent that people don’t know that it’s you, they’re just lost in whatever the character is until the end. So to play Fandral is a real treat. It’s very different. I really hope I get to do it again. I hope I get to play more roles like that.

Did you do any extra training to get you more in shape for the role of Fandral?

ZACHARY: No, what’s interesting is that I was on like a really strict workout regimen until I got to London. Then I tried on my wardrobe for the first time and I realized nobody will ever be able to tell whether I’m ripped or not. I got a big old collar and you don’t see any skin other than my face. I’m even wearing gloves, you don’t even see my finger. So the whole point of working out for the role… well I don’t really need to do that.

Once I learned my fight choreography I realized that I was more than capable of doing it in my physical state. So then my training just became drinking beers and eating chips.

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I loved hearing Zachary talk about how much he loves and appreciates his craft. One of his recent career highlights was being able to sing the song from Tangled at this year’s Oscars. I can’t even begin to imagine how amazing that experience was! Zachary definitely seem to enjoy, love, and appreciate the fact that he had that chance to perform.

I’ll say it again… it was such a pleasure to chat with someone who is part of this amazing Hollywood movie, but also so down to earth, funny, and genuine. Zachary has experience in the worlds of television, film, and theater. I can’t wait to see more of him in the entertainment industry as time goes on! I think I may even need to catch his show Chuck on Netflix now!

Original Photo: MomStart.com. Photo edits by me.

Don’t forget to connect with THOR on Facebook and Twitter! The film is out NOW! Yes, Thor: The Dark World hit theaters last Friday, November 8th! Yes, I’ve already seen it again and plan on heading to the theater for another viewing this week. Don’t forget to look for the #ThorDarkWorldEvent hashtag!

While I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to the Thor: The Dark World Premiere, all opinions are 100% my own.