Shazam! Fury of the Gods Director Speaks Out on Wonder Woman Deep Fake Controversy

By Russ Burlingame

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg took to social media last night to reassure fans that Wonder Woman's cameo in the superhero sequel was not the result of digital fakery, but an actual appearance by the real, flesh-and-blood Gal Gadot. The clarification came after set photos of Gadot's body double showed up online, leading some fans to question whether Wonder Woman's brief appearance in Fury of the Gods was actually digitally inserted using deepfake technology. Sandberg said no -- but added that parts of Gadot's performance were digitally manipulated...just not in the way you think.

Due to scheduling, Gadot performed separately from the rest of the cast, and had to be digitally composited into the scene. The body double was there for lighting reference, and to make sure Sandberg got the coverage he needed...which is more or less what body doubles are always used for, it's just that this time it became a topic of conversation on the internet.

"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," Sandberg explained on Twitter. "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."

You can see the tweet below.

Sandberg 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." When asked, he admitted that Warner Bros. had never given him a reason that the Cavill cameo didn't happen. He was just told one day that it wasn't to be.

Here's the official synopsis for Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, which is in theaters now:

In Shazam! Fury of the Gods, when Billy Batson and his foster siblings, who transform into superheroes by saying "Shazam!", are forced to get back into action and fight the Daughters of Atlas, they must stop them from using a weapon that could destroy the world in which they must travel in order to make peace with the Gods because of Billy taking their powers for granted.

The film stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam!, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez. New cast members also include Rachel Zegler as Anthea, Helen Mirren as Hespera, and Lucy Liu as Kalypso.

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