{"id":435133,"date":"2026-09-14T00:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/435133\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T00:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T00:36:12","slug":"zachary-levi-calls-california-a-failed-state-that-is-literally-and-figuratively-on-fire-after-texas-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/435133\/","title":{"rendered":"Zachary Levi calls California a \u2018failed state\u2019 that is \u2018literally and figuratively on fire\u2019 after Texas move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zachary Levi <\/a>isn\u2019t holding back about why he packed up and left his home state of\u00a0California\u00a0for Texas.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the 45-year-old actor, who is starring in the upcoming action thriller \u201cThe Fix,\u201d sold his home in\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0<\/a>and bought a ranch outside Austin.<\/p>\n

During a recent interview with Fox News Digital alongside his \u201cThe Fix\u201d co-star Liam Neeson, Levi candidly opened up about why he left the Golden State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in California. I love California. It is a failed state,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is literally and figuratively on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with\u00a0his disillusionment with California, <\/a>the \u201cChuck\u201d star explained that his departure was rooted in a long-standing desire to rethink how the entertainment industry operates from the inside out.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver 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 \u2014 like a new United Artists kind of studio \u2014 where it\u2019s owned and operated by the artists, where we can cut out all the middlemen, where we all can do really well, build a community,\u201d Levi said.<\/p>\n

Zachary Levi ripped California as a \u201cfailed state\u201d and \u201con fire\u201d after ditching it for Texas, where he\u2019s building a new Hollywood. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then not just a place to work,\u201d he continued. \u201cPeople 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at the regular world around us, and we see it burning. And we\u2019re like, \u2018Can we do this better? I feel like we can do this better,\u201d Levi added. \u201cSo, that all culminated in nine years ago, me finding 75 acres outside of Austin, Texas, to buy, to develop, to turn into this magical kind of idea. That\u2019s why I left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levi is fulfilling his vision by building\u00a0Wyldwood Studios, a $100 million film and lifestyle campus on his 75-acre property in Bastrop County outside Austin.<\/p>\n

Designed as a hybrid production hub and creative retreat, the multi-phase project pairs soundstages and production offices with housing and wellness spaces. Wyldwood is expected to open its first two soundstages in 2027.<\/p>\n

Looking back on his decision to move,<\/a> Levi explained that walking away from his life in California meant trading idyllic weather and close personal ties for a bigger mission.<\/p>\n

The \u201cChuck\u201d star (left) is investing $100 million in Wyldwood Studios, a 75-acre film and lifestyle campus outside Austin, opening 2027. Fox News<\/p>\n

\u201cI left behind a lot of community and family and perfect weather in Southern California, but when you weigh it all out \u2014 and you must \u2014 you have to come to these points in your life, and you go, \u2018Is all of that really worth the thing that I know I\u2019m supposed to go build in the future to make a better world?\u2019 And, to me, that calling on my life was more important<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, Austin\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s great, you know?\u201d Levi continued. \u201cIt can get kinda hot in the summer and kinda cold in the wintertime, but I can deal with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fix\u201d marks a sharp departure for Levi, who is best known for starring in lighter projects like the action-comedy series \u201cChuck\u201d and the superhero film franchise \u201cShazam!\u201d<\/p>\n

Directed by Guy Moshe, the movie follows a group of war-torn, disgraced former CIA operatives, led by Tucker (Levi) and mentored by his long-time lead Larry (Neeson), who are left disillusioned in the chaotic wake of the\u00a02021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

After a high-stakes mission goes disastrously wrong, the team embarks on a rogue, high-risk mission in Tehran. Seeking both a life-changing score and a chance at personal redemption, the group attempts to pull off a daring rescue operation while confronting their own past choices.<\/p>\n

Levi also revealed he sought a \u201cgritty, darker\u201d role in his new film \u201cThe Fix,\u201d starring alongside Liam Neeson, premiering Sept. 11. Briarcliff Entertainment<\/p>\n

While speaking with Fox News Digital, Levi explained that he was drawn to the project because he wanted to take on a different character type than those that he had previously played.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something fun, gritty, darker, in comparison to other roles that I\u2019ve 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Who are these people in real life? Why are they doing the things that they\u2019re doing? What is this redemption that they are trying to seek?\u2019 The moral ambiguity of all of that, of, like, who\u2019s really the good guy and who\u2019s the bad guy. I think these are really cool themes to explore. And I got to do them with the Liam Neeson.\u201d<\/p>\n

While speaking with Fox News Digital, Neeson also explained why he joined the movie\u2019s cast, heaped praise on Levi along with Moshe, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mark Bacci.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a terrific script,\u201d he said. \u201cReally, really good, talented director and writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a wonderful actor,\u201d Neeson added of Levi. \u201cI\u2019m not just saying that because he\u2019s here, but he is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with Levi and Neeson, \u201cThe Fix\u201d also stars Annet Mahendru, Grant Harvey, Augusto Aguilera, Elnaaz Norouzi and Wes Chatham.<\/p>\n

Zachary Levi and Maggie Keating play with their son Henson Ezra Levi Pugh. Zachary Levi\/Instagram<\/p>\n

During an interview with Fox News Digital, Moshe explained that he believed from the outset that Levi was a natural fit for the project and wasn\u2019t surprised by how hard the actor pushed himself physically for the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I met him, I immediately asked myself, \u2018How am I the first one to see what a great action star this guy can be?\u2019 Like a 6-4, handsome, commanding, almost like old movie star type of kind of presence,\u201d Moshe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to me with Zach, the nice thing about him is which people, I think, don\u2019t know as much about him \u2014 he\u2019s very much of an outdoors person,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe lives in Austin, Texas, on the ranch. He likes rafting. He likes to be outside. He likes to hike. I mean, he\u2019s a very physical person in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he embraced it and was every bit a collaborator from day one,\u201d Moshe added. \u201cSo, I wouldn\u2019t say surprised, but rather validated maybe is the word that I could use. Like, I believed that this would be the case when I met him, and he clearly exceeded my expectations even here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moshe told Fox News Digital Levi brought a raw, real-world edge to the set that surprised even the filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say I found myself in the streets of Tbilisi in a fistfight with Zach and I throwing punches ith people in the middle of the street, which is maybe not something I should advertise,\u201d Moshe said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if people would expect that of him. But, like, he\u2019s quite a man\u2019s man in that capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done all these movies where it\u2019s like the four-quadrant family films, all that kind of stuff, whatever, but he\u2019s certainly, I think, a much more intense person in real life in certain ways that people might not be familiar with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norouzi also praised Levi during her interview with Fox News Digital. In \u201cThe Fix,\u201d the Iranian-born German actress plays Zara, a woman recruited to pose as the Persian wife of Tucker to help cover his cover story as a businessman while his team executes their high-stakes mission in Tehran.<\/p>\n

Zachary Levi attending \u201cThe Fix\u201d Los Angeles Special Screening. Jordan Strauss\/JanuaryImages\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

During the course of the movie, Zara and Tucker develop an emotional and romantic relationship amid the surrounding danger.<\/p>\n

Norouzi told Fox News Digital Levi is a \u201cfantastic actor,\u201d adding, \u201cAnd you do want to be opposite him as the leading lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former \u201cThe Traitors\u201d contestant went on to say that Levi was an \u201cawesome\u201d screen partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, he\u2019s one of those guys who just lets you be and lets you do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut whenever I would, like \u2014 whenever he would feel like I need something from him in the scene to either understand the scene better or to get that chemistry, he would just give it to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that kind of understanding and that kind chemistry is quite rare, I feel,\u201d Norouzi continued. \u201cAnd me and Zach really had that and that really helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had fun on set,\u201d she added. \u201cIt was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fix\u201d premieres in theaters Sept. 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zachary Levi isn\u2019t holding back about why he packed up and left his home state of\u00a0California\u00a0for Texas. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15434,9922,27,29,28,91498],"class_list":["post-435133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-celebrity-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-zachary-levi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}