‘SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods’ seemingly confused a lot of moviegoers with its surprise cameo featuring the return of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.
The poor VFX work fuelled speculation that Gadot's face was placed on another actor's body using deepfake technology, but ‘Shazam’ director David F. Sandberg denied this.
“A certain cameo in ‘Shazam! Fury Of the Gods’ had to be shot in England, but I couldn’t go because of a visa issue so I directed remotely,” Sandberg wrote on Twitter while sharing a video of himself remotely directing Gadot’s cameo scene.
“It wasn’t a deepfake as some believe.”
The rumour was sparked by set images from ‘Shazam 2’, which showed Wonder Woman’s body duplicate Taylor Cahill on set.
The photographs prompted many to assume Cahill, not Gadot, performed in the scene, but Sandberg also disproved that idea.
A certain cameo in #ShazamFuryOfTheGods had to be shot in England but I couldn’t go because of a visa issue so I directed remotely. It wasn’t a deepfake as some believe. pic.twitter.com/p8ODDHWe9Q
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) March 22, 2023
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.
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) March 18, 2023
Sandberg sought to make Gadot's Wonder Woman cameo a surprise at first, but Warner Bros' marketing for the film revealed her presence in a TV promo that played before the film's theatrical release.
“Well there’s some big ‘Shazam’ spoilers out there now,” Sandberg posted when the spoiler got out. “If you want to go in fresh maybe don’t be online or watch TV with ads… Pretty good advice in general actually.”
As for Gadot, ‘Shazam 2’ might be her final appearance playing Wonder Woman.
The actress and her ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins were working on a third film in the franchise, but Jenkins dropped out last year amid a DC Universe revamp led by new studio chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran.
It is unknown if Gadot will reprise her role in the new DC Universe.
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is now playing in theatres nationwide. – The Vibes, March 25, 2023
