Director David F Sandberg responds to Wonder Woman deepfake controversy in 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Director of 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods', David F Sandberg used social media yesterday night to convince fans that Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in the superhero sequel, made a real appearance and wasn't a computer replica. The clarification was made in response to fan speculation that Wonder Woman's brief cameo in 'Fury of the Gods' may have actually been added digitally using deepfake technology after set photographs of Gadot's body double surfaced online. According to Sandberg, some of Gadot's performance was digitally altered—just not in the way you might expect.
Gadot had to be digitally composited into the scene because she had to perform separately from the rest of the ensemble due to scheduling issues. The body double was present for lighting reference and to ensure Sandberg received the coverage he needed, which is essentially what body doubles are always employed for; the difference this time was that it generated discussion online.
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'Absolutely no deepfaking'
Sandberg took to Twitter and posted a behind-the-scenes picture, clarifying, "We shot the scene with [double Taylor Cahill] 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," he added. "This is the approach we did on Shazam 1 for Superman. Shoot with a double first, then get the required coverage with Cavill. Only the second part never happened on Shazam 1."
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
What is 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' about?
When Billy Batson and his foster siblings are forced to return to action to fight the Daughters of Atlas, they must prevent them from using a weapon that could destroy the world they must travel to in order to make peace with the Gods, all because Billy took their abilities for granted. The film stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam!, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as superhero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as superhero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as superhero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, DJ Cotrona as superhero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez.
