Xtreme Vogue London Desk: Sarah Marshal
After joining the DCEU in 2017, Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg is ready to hang up his cape.
With the second chapter of the Shazamily’s adventures now in theaters, the Swedish filmmaker is finally able to open up about one of the highlights of his entire experience. Of course, that would be Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman cameo, which he actually directed remotely from home. The chance to properly include a member of the Justice League also made up for Henry Cavill’s Superman cameo that didn’t pan out on 2019’s Shazam!, resulting in a headless Superman cameo.
But because of that prior disappointment, Sandberg still expected the worst to happen with Gadot.
“[Wonder Woman] was always supposed to be in [Shazam! Fury of the Gods], but I didn’t believe it was going to happen because of what happened on the first movie where we had to do a headless Superman cameo. I thought that was going to happen here, too,”
Sandberg adds: “But then it actually did happen, which was great, because then we could poke fun at the headless cameo of the first movie, with the Wizard [Djimon Hounsou] dream sequence. But we never could have done that if we didn’t actually have Gal at the end because people would’ve been furious.”
Sandberg is also clarifying the timing of the mid-credit scene since it includes Emilia Harcout (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. With Gunn now the co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Fury of the Gods producer Peter Safran, some viewers might be thinking that they made a late addition to the film in order to connect Shazam (Zachary Levi) to Gunn’s new DCU slate, but the scene was actually shot long before Gunn and Safran took the reins of DC.
“There were supposed to be characters from [Black Adam’s] Justice Society, but that fell apart three days before we were going to roll cameras,” Sandberg shares. “So, Peter Safran, who produced this movie and Peacemaker, made some calls, and thankfully, Jen Holland and Steve Agee were able to come by on very short notice.”
With his duties in the DCEU now coming to a close, Sandberg is eager to return to his roots in the horror genre, and that includes reunions with his Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation producer, James Wan, as well as former DC Films president, Walter Hamada. The latter has executive produced all four of Sandberg’s feature films.
“I actually have one project in development with James … and I have been talking a lot with Walter about finding something to do together. I’ve never made a movie without him, so I would love to do more with Walt,” Sandberg says.
Below, during a recent spoiler conversation with THR, Sandberg also discusses how he was caught off guard by the Fury of the Gods marketing team’s sudden decision to include Gadot’s Wonder Woman in the film’s final wave of TV spots.
Well, you missed your L.A. premiere due to Covid. How are you feeling?
I’m feeling pretty good now, actually. I missed the premiere, but I’m back on my feet now.
You were also ahead of the ChatGPT curve with “Steve.”
Yeah, it’s kinda funny how Steve turned into something timely.
So let’s cut to the chase. When did Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman enter into the equation?
Right from the start and from the first script. She was always supposed to be in it, but I didn’t believe it was going to happen because of what happened on the first movie where we had to do a headless Superman cameo. I thought that was going to happen here, too. So I started to think, “Okay, when she can’t do it or when it falls apart, how do we bring Shazam back to life? Will we have to bring Helen Mirren’s character, Hespera, back? What are we going to do?” But then it actually did happen, which was great, because then we could poke fun at the headless cameo of the first movie, with the Wizard [Djimon Hounsou] dream sequence and things like that. But we never could have done that if we didn’t actually have Gal at the end because people would’ve been furious.
I know Shazam!’s headless Superman cameo was a disappointment at the time, but I appreciated how you turned it into a running gag with Wonder Woman being headless until she wasn’t.
(Laughs.) Yeah, and a lot of the credit goes to the writers [Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan], too.
Did Gal’s reputation precede her on set?
Because of a bunch of situations, I had to direct her stuff, remotely. So I was at home, and I had one screen with a feed from the camera and one feed that was a Zoom window where I could talk to her and everyone on set. It was kind of weird, but it worked out really well. She was super nice and super professional, and it was a dream to work with her.
What have the conversations with marketing been like? I can’t imagine you wanted that secret out, pre-release, but I know you’re pragmatic as well.
I was surprised. (Laughs.) I was just getting back from the press tour, and I got a text, asking, “Hey, why spoil Wonder Woman?” And I was like, “What are you talking about?” So I didn’t know, and they did apologize for not keeping me in the loop. But I understand why they did it, because they wanted to get people to see the movie. So, of course, I understand, but it’s a shame because these days, the only audiences who get to see these movies as intended are test audiences. When they saw the movie, they didn’t know Rachel Zegler’s character was a goddess, for example. For them, it was actually a twist that worked, but then, once marketing started, you have to show her in her goddess clothes and that whole thing is out of the bag. So no one is really going to be surprised that she’s a goddess undercover in a school.
