Look, in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s the latest reminder that the Justice League/Superman mustache debacle was really weird.
The story of Henry Cavill’s “missing” facial hair in Justice League was already infamous before anyone saw the movie. After Zack Snyder left following a family tragedy and Joss Whedon came on as director, the film needed major re-shoots. There was one problem: Cavill was filming Misson: Impossible – Fallout and his character had a world-class mustache Paramount wouldn’t let him shave. Not wanting to delay the film’s release, and with seemingly no other choice, Warner Bros. decided to digitally remove Cavill’s mustache. And it was a disaster. The further away we get from the whole ordeal the weirder it seems, especially when you watch this video that replaces Henry Cavill’s entire face with another famous Man of Steel, the late Christopher Reeve.
The YouTube channels derpfakes is back with another great video that uses an artificial intelligence program that makes it possible to seamlessly replace one actor’s face using photos and images of another. This worked incredibly when it put Harrison Ford’s face onto Alden Ehrenreich’s in Solo, only that made us appreciate Ehrenreich’s performance even more. We’re still impressed this time around, but we’re also more confused than ever why Cavill’s mustache posed such a problem in Justice League. This was made possible by a single A.I. program without the incredible resources, time, and money of a major Hollywood studio.
Seriously, if it’s possible to digitally edit Christopher Reeve’s face into the movie and have it look this good, how much better would Superman have looked in Justice League if they had simply replaced Henry Cavill’s face with younger Henry Cavill’s face? Couldn’t this A.I. program have replaced all those poorly edited “missing” mustache scenes with shots from Man of Steel or Batman v Superman?
That would have been a lot less weird than giving him the world’s worst shave.
Featured Image: derpfakes/Warner Bros.
