Nicolas Cage slams CGI Superman in The Flash

Nicolas Cage has addressed his cameo in The Flash, revealing he didn’t shoot the scene that ended up in the film, and blaming CGI for the result.

The Flash featured a slew of cameos during the movie’s action-packed climax, from DC characters of the past. One of the most surprising is a brief appearance by Nicolas Cage.

In the late 1990s, Cage worked on a Man of Steel movie with Tim Burton, titled Superman Lives. That project ultimately fell apart, but during development, producer Jon Peters insisted Superman fight a giant spider at some point.

So The Flash director Andy Mushietti made that happen in his movie. Fans assumed that the scene was shot using a fully computer-generated version of the actor. But in a new interview, Cage reveals that he shot footage, only not what viewers saw.

Nicolas Cage slams CGI Superman in The Flash

“First and foremost, I was on set,” Cage tells Yahoo of his Flash experience. “What I was supposed to do was literally just be standing in an alternate dimension, if you will, and witnessing the destruction of the universe. Kal-El was bearing witness [to] the end of a universe, and you can imagine with that short amount of time that I had, what that would mean in terms of what I can convey. I had no dialogue [so had to] convey with my eyes the emotion. So that’s what I did. I was on set for maybe three hours.

“When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did. I don’t think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there.

“But I don’t think it [was] AI [in The Flash]. I just think that they did something with it, and again, it’s out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That’s all I did.

“I do feel that the movie gave that beautiful suit that Colleen Atwood designed a chance to be seen, and I was happy about that because she put a heck of a lot of thought into that series.”

Why Nic Cage hates AI

Tim Burton has previously stated that he’s worried AI “takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.”

Nic Cage feels the same, telling Yahoo: “I get where Tim’s coming from. I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art… and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I’m with him in that regard. AI is a nightmare to me. It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence.”

You can read the full story behind Superman Lives here. While for more TV and Movies coverage, click here.