Actor Zachary Levi has described California as a failed state and said his 2017 move to Texas was driven by a desire to build a better entertainment industry from the ground up. Levi, who grew up in California and starred in the series Chuck and the Shazam! films, sold his Los Angeles home and bought a 75-acre ranch outside Austin.
«I grew up in California, I love California, it is a failed state,» Levi said in an interview alongside his The Fix co-star Liam Neeson. «It is literally and figuratively on fire.» The comment reflects a broader frustration with the state that he said pushed him to leave behind family, community, and what he called perfect weather in Southern California.
Levi said his departure was rooted in a long-standing ambition to rethink how Hollywood operates. «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 — like a new United Artists kind of studio — where it's owned and operated by the artists, where we can cut out all the middlemen, where we all can do really well, build a community,» he said.
That vision is taking shape as Wyldwood Studios, a $100 million film and lifestyle campus on his property in Bastrop County outside Austin. The multi-phase project is designed as a hybrid production hub and creative retreat, pairing soundstages and production offices with residential housing and wellness spaces. The first two soundstages are expected to open in 2027.
Levi described the project as more than a workplace. «People can live there and kids can go to school there and we have an organic farm and like all of the things that I think everybody really wants these days,» he said. He added that the decision to leave California meant weighing personal ties against a larger mission. «I left behind a lot of community and family and perfect weather in Southern California, but when you weigh it all out and you must, you have to come to these points in your life and you go, 'Is all of that really worth the thing that I know I'm supposed to go build in the future to make a better world?' And to me, that calling on my life was more important,» he said.
Levi said he has adapted to life in Texas. «Fortunately, Austin's awesome. It's great, you know?» he said. «It can get kinda hot in the summer and kinda cold in the wintertime, but I can deal with it. There's no thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.»
His new film, The Fix, marks a sharp departure from the lighter roles that made him famous. Directed by Guy Moshe, the action-thriller follows a group of war-torn, disgraced former CIA operatives led by Tucker (Levi) and mentored by Larry (Neeson), who are left disillusioned after the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. After a high-stakes mission goes wrong, the team embarks on a rogue, high-risk mission in Tehran, seeking both a life-changing score and personal redemption.
Levi said he was drawn to the project because he wanted to take on a different character type. «I wanted to do something fun, gritty, darker, in comparison to other roles that I've played in the past, and this gave me that and then some, because there was all of the great spycraft and twists and turns and revelations throughout the story, as well as this human foundation,» he said. He added that the film explores moral ambiguity. «Who are these people in real life? Why are they doing the things that they're doing? What is this redemption that they are trying to seek? The moral ambiguity of all of that, of like, who's really the good guy and who's the bad guy. I think these are really cool themes to explore. And I got to do them with the Liam Neeson.»
Neeson praised the script and the director. «It is a terrific script,» he said. «Really, really good, talented director and writer.» Of Levi, he added, «He's a wonderful actor. I'm not just saying that because he's here, but he is wonderful.» The Fix also stars Annet Mahendru, Grant Harvey, Augusto Aguilera, Elnaaz Norouzi, and Wes Chatham.