Free Guy Filmmakers Went to Great Lengths to Avoid Captain America Leaks
Free Guy's creative team worked really hard to hide that Captain America Easter egg in the movie. Avoiding leaks can be difficult, but the film's VFX supervisor, Swen Gilberg told ComicBook.com that there were some specific strategies they used. For one, you can't make a prop that iconic look like the weapon that Chris Evans hefted around for multiple movies in the MCU. So, to be sneaky, they disguised the shield to look like some other sort of digitally created artifact. (Gilberg actually clarifies that the Captain America shield is digitally constructed in the MCU as well!) So, that's one way, but they weren't going to take any chances. Not only was it painted in a drab grey, it also was made out of cardboard. There would be no way for any die-hard Marvel fan to suspect the vibranium artifact would be in the possession of Ryan Reynolds' character. Check out what he had to say down below.
"We actually purposely made it not look like the Captain America shield, so that we didn't get any looky-loos," Gilberg explained. "So, the shield we used was a gray cardboard thing, and we made sure that it didn't look like Captain America's shield when we were shooting it. And for what it's worth, on all the Marvel movies also, every single shield is digital."
Elsewhere in our conversation with the VFX Supervisor, he talked about how clutch Reynolds was when it came to securing those massive cameos. Gilberg clarified that it was those "powerful connections" that even allowed such a thing to happen in the first place. Luckily for the fans, the Deadpool star was able to flex those muscles.
"We always like to say that we're going to reuse assets, but over time, the technology changes enough where we pretty much redo them every time," Gillberg continued. "Getting permission to use those is super, super hard and usually impossible. And that was all Shawn and Ryan texting all of their super powerful friends. So that was amazing to watch happen because getting permission to use light sabers and Hulk fists and Captain America shields, that's very, very rare and privilege. And that's really a tribute to the connections and relationships that Shawn and Ryan have."
Did you love the Captain America nod in Free Guy? Let us know down in the comments!