Henry Cavill and Superman, the two words that seemed perfectly in sync could no longer be spoken together. That’s what the director of the recently released Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg felt when he wanted to hire Henry Cavill for a cameo in the 2019 movie.
After the release of the sequel, the director talked about an iconic cameo that featured a headless Superman in the famous scene of Shazam! (2019). According to Sandberg, he originally wanted Cavill to make a cameo in the movie but his deal with DC had already been bad during those days.
Henry Cavill’s Headless Cameo in Shazam!
During the creation of Shazam! back in 2019, there was some confusion surrounding Henry Cavill being in the DCEU. The actor was last seen in Joss Whedon’s Justice League which was released in 2017 and Zack Snyder’s vision had not yet come to pass.
With the release of the sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the director of the movie David F. Sandberg talked about his admiration of Henry Cavill and the character of Superman in the DCU (formerly DCEU). Featuring a headless cameo of Superman in the first part, it wasn’t actually Cavill but a stand-in for the actor. According to David Sandberg, things had already been bad for The Witcher actor during that time which made it impossible for Henry Cavill to give a cameo.
In an interview with Collider, the director talked about the iconic headless cameo that was featured in Shazam! (2019) and the behind-the-scenes event for that cameo.
“Yeah. No, it was there from the beginning. I mean, the funny thing was, in the first movie we were gonna have Henry [Cavill] show up as Superman. Then, when we were shooting that scene, they were like, ‘Well, Henry is not gonna make it on this day, so we’ll shoot it with a stand-in and then we’ll have to pick up his coverage later on.'”
The Lights Out director continued,
“It’s like, ‘Okay…’ So, we shot it like that, and then the Henry thing fell apart and we couldn’t do it. So we had to just use the stand-in footage, and that’s why it ends before you see his face.”
In the end, the stand-in for Henry Cavill was used but got the job done. The people were clearly hyped up for the crossover before some unfortunate circumstances (like James Gunn) made Henry Cavill depart from the franchise.
Even A Stand-in For Gal Gadot Was Also Used!
Welp seems like the DCU is out of actors as a stand-in for Gal Gadot was also used! Although in the sequel, the Israeli actress was not able to make it to the set in Atlanta which caused David F. Sandberg to once again take the help of a stand-in (poor guy).
The director also had a backup plan ready in case Gal Gadot was never able to show up (considering the departures in the DCU) which involved Hellen Mirren’s character.
“It’s like, ‘Sure. Yeah.’ So that’s when I started thinking, ‘Okay, so when we don’t get her, how do we solve it?’ Because it’s such a big– we have to have it in the movie. So I was like, ‘Okay, we need some other god then, I guess. Can we have [Helen Mirren’s] character actually survive? It’s gonna be so lame if she shows up.’ But that was sort of my Plan B.”
Although Plan B did not come to pass, several people were confused about whether it was actually Gal Gadot or just another stand-in for her character. With Henry Cavill out of the picture, Gal Gadot barely in the frame, and no confirmed news for Ben Affleck, the people await what James Gunn will do next with the DCU.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is currently screening in theaters across the world for the people to watch.
Source: The Direct
