SPOILERS for Shazam! ahead.
Reshoots on Shazam! completely changed a key scene between Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) and his family. The latest DC film to come out of Warner Bros. is in many ways a movie about finding your family. This is obvious in the prominence of Billy Batson (Asher Angel) adjusting to his new life in another foster home, all while trying to track down his biological mother. The latter does not go as he hoped, but he eventually learns to accept his new family, and learns that they can be even more powerful together.
On the opposite side of this coin though, Sivana is a villain that's driven by the hatred he received from his family as a child. He was constantly picked on by his brother and belittled by his father, which made the rejection by the Wizard known as Shazam impossible to accept. Once he gained his magical powers in Shazam!, a family reunion came not too long after. He crashed a company meeting that resulted in him throwing his brother out the window to his death and allowing Greed - one of the Seven Deadly Sins - to kill his father.
During a recent interview by Cinema Blend, editor Michel Aller revealed that this sequence was actually a completely new version of the scene and was shot during reshoots. The plan was always for Sivana to confront his family, but the meeting setting was where the biggest change was made. So where was the reunion originally going to happen? A Christmas party. Here's what Aller said:
It was a later addition. Originally the way Sivana confronts his family was completely different. It was at a Christmas party in his mansion. And so the whole idea of him confronting his family was re-conceived. So that was part of the additional photography.
It's not clear if the original version of this scene was based around a family Christmas party or a business one, but the end result would still be the same. Shazam! is clearly set during the holiday season too, so this could've been just the latest reminder of the time of year. Aller did not reveal why the decision was made to make this change though, which would give everyone some additional context to the original plan. That said, she did say that there's a chance this alternative scene will be included on Shazam!'s home release as a deleted scene.
Now that Shazam! is out in theaters, it'll be fun to see what other details about deleted or alternate scenes are revealed. Sandberg has not been shy at revealing behind-the-scenes looks at the film, such as his own cameo, so he could reveal more cut scenes eventually. We're still several months away from Shazam! being made available on home video and less than two weeks removed from the film's theatrical debut after all, leaving Sandberg and the rest of the team involved in Shazam! with plenty of time to reveal new information about what could've been.
Source: Cinema Blend
