Actor Calls California a ‘Failed State’

Zachary Levi is taking a flamethrower to his former home state.

The “Shazam!” star, who ditched California for Texas years ago, slammed the Golden State as a “failed state” while explaining why he walked away from Hollywood life and planted roots outside Austin.

“I grew up in California. I love California. It is a failed state,” Levi told Fox News Digital. “It is literally and figuratively on fire.”

The 45-year-old actor sold his Los Angeles home in 2017 and purchased 75 acres in Bastrop County, Texas, where he is now pursuing an ambitious plan to build his own entertainment community.

For Levi, leaving California wasn’t just about escaping Los Angeles. He said he had become frustrated with the way Hollywood operates and dreamed of creating an alternative controlled more directly by artists.

“Ever since I started working in Hollywood and I saw how broken it all was, I felt very compelled by God to go build a better Hollywood,” Levi said.

His vision resembles an old-school artist-run studio, but on a much larger scale. Levi wants filmmakers and performers to be able to work, live and raise families in the same community, complete with housing, schools, wellness amenities and an organic farm.

That vision is becoming Wyldwood Studios, a massive film and lifestyle development on Levi’s Texas property.

The Bastrop County project is planned as a roughly $100 million-plus development spread across 75 acres, combining production facilities with housing, hospitality and other amenities. Local development officials say the first soundstages are expected to open in 2027.

Levi said the project grew out of his belief that the entertainment business — and society more broadly — could be built differently.

“We look at the regular world around us, and we see it burning,” he said. “And we’re like, ‘Can we do this better? I feel like we can do this better.’”

The actor acknowledged that leaving Southern California meant giving up near-perfect weather along with friends and family.

But Levi said the mission he felt called to pursue mattered more.

“I left behind a lot of community and family and perfect weather in Southern California,” he said, adding that he eventually had to decide whether staying was worth abandoning what he believed he was supposed to build.

For now, Levi seems more than happy with his Texas life.

“Austin’s awesome,” he said, joking that summers can get brutally hot and winters surprisingly cold.

“There’s no thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.”

Levi’s comments come as he takes another major turn in his career with the new action thriller “The Fix,” which hit theaters Sept. 11.

The movie is a much darker departure from the lighter roles that made Levi famous in projects such as “Chuck” and the “Shazam!” franchise.

Directed by Guy Moshe, “The Fix” follows a group of troubled former CIA operatives dealing with the fallout from Afghanistan. Levi plays Tucker, the group’s leader, while Liam Neeson plays Larry, his longtime mentor.

After a mission goes horribly wrong, the team heads into Tehran for a dangerous operation that offers both a potentially huge payoff and a shot at redemption.

Levi said that darker material was exactly what attracted him to the movie.

“I wanted to do something fun, gritty, darker, in comparison to other roles that I’ve played in the past,” he said.

He said the story gave him the chance to explore espionage, moral ambiguity and characters whose motives aren’t always clearly good or bad.

And working alongside Neeson didn’t hurt.

Neeson returned the praise, calling Levi a “wonderful actor” while also complimenting Moshe and the movie’s script.

Moshe said he immediately saw action-star potential in the 6-foot-4 Levi and wondered why Hollywood hadn’t already leaned more heavily into that side of him.

The director said Levi’s outdoorsy lifestyle in Texas — hiking, rafting and working around his ranch — translated naturally into the physically demanding role.

Levi’s co-star Elnaaz Norouzi, who plays Zara, also praised their chemistry and called him a “fantastic actor.”

The movie also stars Annet Mahendru, Grant Harvey, Augusto Aguilera, Wes Chatham and others.

Between his gritty new movie and his enormous Texas studio gamble, Levi appears determined to build a career — and perhaps an entirely new Hollywood ecosystem — far away from the California he once called home.