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Reflections are a movie camera’s arch nemesis, and VFX artists spend a bunch of time taking them out. But it’s not often the reflection comes from a main character’s moving helmet, as is the case with John Cena’s Peacemaker character in the upcoming The Suicide Squad film, James Gunn says.
“Peacemaker’s helmet is a damn mirror ball,” said director James Gunn in response to a question on Twitter. “We need to remove me and the crew from every single shot in which we use it, in the movie and in the [HBO Max spinoff] show.
Peacemaker‘s mirror-reflective helmet protects his mind from the voices that haunt him (seriously), but it’s also a unique problem for a filmmaker. A round, reflective surface like this is going to catch not just the camera, but the entire set all around the actor. And being that it’s a helmet, it has all the unpredictability that comes with a human moving around on camera.
To solve the issue, Gunn explains, the crew has to shoot a full wrap-around plate to apply to the helmet in those cases. Interestingly, this is not completely unlike the video game technique of Cube Mapping, which is how many modern games simulate reflections.
If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past few years, you’ve almost certainly seen the memes that play on John Cena’s “You can’t see me” slogan. It’s funny, then, that his character, Peacemaker, is the one giving people behind the camera a headache.
The Suicide Squad is scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021, and Cena’s Peacemaker spinoff in January 2022.
