Director David F. Sandberg, whose Shazam! film surpassed box office expectations on the opening weekend to the tune of $53 million, explained the huge cameo that occurs at the end of the film.
**Warning Spoilers for Shazam! Below**
Sandberg spoke with Inverse, where he revealed his original intentions behind the Superman cameo:
“From day one, that was something we always wanted to do. Superman and Shazam have a bit of history.”
He elaborates on what he originally had envisioned:
“Originally, Superman actually sat down at the table, and they had a little bit of a conversation. But when we were up in Toronto shooting, we couldn’t make it work.”
Sandberg points to a scheduling conflict which would not allow Superman actor Henry Cavill to reprise his role. It’s why we only see Superman from the neck down. Sandberg points out that while they were in Toronto filming the scene they were using an actual middle school that had closed “for some sort of a holiday.” It meant they only had a limited amount of time to shoot the scene.
He explains, “We only had the time we had because we could only shoot when the kids weren’t there. And, of course, I wanted Henry Cavill to pop up. But he was unavailable, which was disappointing.”
Given the pickle he was in without Cavill able to reprise his role, and still wanting the Superman cameo, Sandberg had to think fast on his feet and that’s when he came up with the idea that would make it into the final product.
“It’s the end of the movie. What are we going to do?” Sandberg continues, “We had Zack’s stunt double do it, but I was worried. Is this gonna feel cheap? Is this not gonna work? To cut before you see his face, is this gonna feel cheap? Are people gonna feel cheated?”
After seeing the scene in post-production Sandberg knew he had a winner, “It just made us laugh. You see Freddy’s reaction and a hard cut to credits, and it’s just funny. It turned out better than what it was originally, where he sat down and had a little chat.”
Shazam! is in theaters now!
What did you think about the Superman cameo? Did you enjoy it?