Why Helen Mirren Hid Her On-Set Injury on 'Shazam: Fury of the Gods' (Exclusive)

Helen Mirren plays an otherworldly goddess in Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, but on the set of the upcoming sequel, she was only human!

The actress revealed in a recent interview that she actually broke a finger during the filming of the Shazam sequel, in which Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler join the cast as a trio of supernatural sisters. When the co-stars sat down to discuss the film with ET's Ash Crossan, Mirren shared why she kept the injury a secret from the cast and crew.

"When you're in that stunt world, the stunt people are so brave, and you want to be accepted by them," the Oscar winner confessed. "I'm sucking up to the stunt people."

"They're the popular kids," Zegler added with a laugh.

"They were the cool kids, exactly," Mirren agreed. "I wanted to be accepted by them so I was not going to complain about my finger."

Thankfully, the 77-year-old actress promised that she doesn't have any extreme stunts coming up in her next franchise installment, Fast X, teasing that in the film, "I just stand looking at Rome... but the driving was great."

The film's titular star, Zachary Levi, also opened up about Mirren hiding her on-set mishap.

"I had no idea, but she's such a trouper," the actor said. "She was so there and present and rolling up her sleeves, like, 'How can we go have fun? How can we do this?' She's everything. Such an icon."  

For Zegler, stepping onto the set of the massive comic adaptation came with a bit of whiplash, as Fury of the Gods was just her second film ever. It helps, however, that her first was Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated remake of West Side Story.

"It was amazing," the actress raved of the experience. "I kept telling my family -- no pun intended -- that lightning struck twice for me. I was able to work with living legends on West Side Story, with Rita Moreno and Steven Spielberg. And then I come onto this, and I'm with Helen and Lucy and they're playing my sisters... I feel like the luckiest girl in the world."

ET also spoke with Levi about the future of his role in light of the recent major shakeup behind the scenes of the DC Comics cinematic universe -- James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired as the new co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Films late last year.

"Listen, I've talked to Peter a good bit, we're gonna talk more on this tour. Certainly, the idea is to continue the character, this world," Levi told ET. "It's a really enjoyable extension of the DCU. It has DNA that a lot of the other characters and extensions don't necessarily have because we are a more family [movie]...  [That] kind of franchise comes with a lot of fun. It's a throwback to... stuff like Goonies and Indiana Jones and all those things that evoke that kind of adventure in you."

Levi added that "the idea is to keep" the Shazam! franchise going, adding that they'll have "a better shot of making more in the future" if audiences turn out to see the new film.

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods flies into theaters March 17.

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