“He came back four times asking me, ‘Can I read for it?” Matthew recalled, adding that he soon after pitched the idea to the casting director. “They got him on camera, read for it and I said ‘Wow, he can hold the frame, he’s got the instinct for it.’”
So, they decided to put the decision in the hands of director Paul Greengrass.
“They send it to the director and they say, ‘If we do that, let’s take the name off—my last name off—to send to the director,’” Matthew explained. “And Paul looks at it and says, ‘That’s the kid!’”
As for how Levi reacted to landing his debut role in the intense wildfire drama? Well, he was completely taken by surprise.
“I knew it was a good audition and I was like, ‘OK. This is good,’” he told E! “But I did not think I was going to get the part.”