Originally published on Twitter in 2020
I’ve seen various theories about why we didn’t have the typical DC logo with characters. Truth is I forgot. A lot to think about when making a movie.
Some people don’t believe that. “The studio would have said something!”. Well. They didn’t.
John Glover didn’t come on board until reshoots. Originally old and young dad were different actors but audiences were confused so we had John play both. He’s awesome by the way. Imagine when I was a kid and saw Gremlins 2 that one day I’d work with that guy
The burning violin is a reference to Nero's fiddle in the comic “Cult of the Curse part 4: Flames of the Magic Fiddle” (1946). Geoff Johns came up with a lot of easter eggs for the film and they're deep cuts.
The prop itself was made of metal so it could burn all day. No vfx.
On Shazam we shot clean plates for almost every setup. A clean plate is when you shoot the shot again but without any actors. The main reason was for the 3D conversion but it was also valuable to have for changes. In the scene below I changed a line read afterwards by shooting Asher on a bluescreen and using the clean plate from the scene. It's very hard to tell the difference
The opening flying shots of Philly are all stock footage since our helicopter footage turned out bad. Technically I guess you could buy the exact same footage and use in your movie.
Did you catch Annabelle in the pawn shop?
There was so many back and forths about what logo to put on that cheesesteak bag. If there was going to be product placement etc. we just shot a bag with some dots over and left that decision to post.
Because of a deleted scene we had to stretch out the beginning of Billy outside fake mom’s house. That tilt down was made in post with painted in trees.
Andi Osho who plays the social worker is meant to be the same as her character in my first movie Lights Out. Andi is awesome and I want to find a bigger role for her in something.
Originally Sivana had to “unlock” the orb to steal it, using this very Goonies-looking contraption. The numbers were for Mark to memorize the combination.
Really wish I had kept this Mr. Mind prop. When I’m making movies my mind is all over the place and I realize afterwards that I should have kept more props.
The sins had real light up eyes. I loved this set and felt quite sad the day it was torn down. The statues were kept though.
To light Asher during the hologram this contraption was used where I could remotely control the light myself. That then had to be painted out in post.
Capturing the lightning effect in this scene for vfx.
There was a ton of cool graffiti in Toronto but you can’t use it unless you can find the artist and get permission so we had to add a lot of temporary graffiti of our own
The robbery scene is probably my favorite in the whole movie.
This is an actual convenience store in Hamilton. Behind the counter they had bootleg DVDs. They even had one of my films so I signed it with my bootleg name.
Bärs is Swedish slang for beer. Because I’m Swedish and obvious.
Getting to pick what guns the robbers should use. I decided to keep it reasonable.
Some storyboard comparisons
I loved shooting this.
When I was figuring out how the sins in Shazam would work. Two of these became scenes in the film.
It’s pretty crazy what you get to do when you make movies.
Found this work in progress of Lotta's death. It shows even better how gruesome her death really is.
Prop from Freddy’s room. Gotham really needs to do something about their crime problem.
The mentioned suitcase wedgie was shot but deleted.
More “fun stuff you get to do as filmmakers”
We bought 4 or 5 buses for this scene. We had half busses for certain scenes.
Look at that bus go!
During this scene where Sivana meets Shazam I was so sick. I had a fever and it was super cold (notice the breaths). Between setups I got some sleep in my director’s chair. Not a fun few days.
Testing the Shazam into police car stunt. It was later done into an actual car, the boxes were just for rehearsal.
Look at Asher nearly kicking himself in the back for the shot of him jumping off the roof.
Here’s two of the sins the way they looked on set
I played all three crocodile men. It was extremely uncomfortable .
One of the guys walking by outside the strip club is Seth Green who visited the set that day.
A lot of work for such a brief shot.
Not seen in the movie but the crocodiles playing poker have a painting of humans playing poker. And the art department made one of them look like me. Another prop I wish I’d kept.
The leaning Ferris wheel built by the physical effects department
It was awesome having a whole carnival for ourselves. The booths had real candy and everything. I ate candy every day. Screw continuity.
Shazam dance party
Shazam family!
It’s always hard letting second unit shoot stuff, you want to shoot it all yourself. Sivana and Shazam flying around was such boring blue screen work though that I happily gave it all to second unit.
Shazam not being able to hear Sivana I didn’t give to second unit though.
Greed grabbing people on Ferris wheel
Don’t worry. Gingerbread man is going to be alright.
All the adult versions had code names so it wouldn’t leak out that they were going to show up in the film.
The third and last ponysmasher cameo, the voice of Mr. Mind.
Bonus video on how I created the voice of Mr. Mind:
Well this was fun. See you next time!
Oh right, yeah. The talking to fish bit was one of the many things we shot for the testing powers montage. I figured we might as well put something after all of the credits as well. Gotta have a ton of after credits stuff on a superhero movie.
