The DCU is charting new territory in the superhero universe. New heroes and villains are on the rise, with new creatives in charge as well under co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. With heroes like Black Adam, Superman, Batman, and Shazam back on the big screen, things seem to be getting even more interesting for the superhero franchise.
The Shazam! franchise within the DCU is only two movies old as of 2023 but has a huge following already. Portrayed by Hollywood star Zach Levi, Shazam is a young man who gets endowed with superpowers and grows into an adult. The second movie in the franchise, Shazam! Fury of the Gods hit theatres on 17th March 2023.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods Wonder Woman cameo a use of deepfake technology?
The new title, Shazam! Fury of the Gods saw a climactic scene in which the titular character, Shazam, lays down his life in order to stop antagonist Kalypso and her dragon. The Wizard suggests that Shazam should be given a send-off burial fit for a Champion, but that is when Wonder Woman herself arrives on the scene and revives Shazam after restoring the Wizard’s superpower as well. The dramatic entry of Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, raised a few eyebrows among fans, with a behind-the-scenes photograph doing the rounds on social media.
The images, revealed on Twitter by @maybegrayson, also showed a body double, Taylor Cahill donning the full Wonder Woman suit, making netizens wonder whether the cameo was usage of deepfake technology or not.
Director David F Sandberg responded to the rumors on Twitter and cleared up the fans’ doubts himself.
Shazam! director David F Sandberg clears up deepfake rumors
The movie’s director, David F Sandberg, tweeted a response to the fans’ growing inquisitiveness.
“We shot the scene with Taylor to figure out what coverage we then needed to get with Gal since she couldn’t make it to Atlanta. It’s also Taylor’s body with the wizards head on it. There is absolutely no deepfaking going on. When you see Gal it’s 100% her,” tweeted the director.
Evidently, the producers went ahead with shooting the routines with double Cahill first as Gadot couldn’t make it to the set, and then, deciding what to shoot with Gadot, did so at the end. The final product was wedged into the final making of the movie.
The director continued to say in a different tweet that the same thing had happened for Superman’s cameo in Shazam! (2019).
“This is the approach we did on ‘Shazam 1’ for Superman. Shoot with a double first, then get the required coverage with [Henry] Cavill. Only the second part never happened on Shazam 1,” revealed the director.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods hasn’t been performing as well in the theatres as the producers would have liked it to. Under Gunn and Safran’s new leadership, what happens to the future of the superhero makes for interesting speculation in light of the poor critical reviews received by the second title.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is in theatres now.
Source: The Direct
