When it comes to huge, expensive projects involving hundreds of people and tens
of millions of dollars, it's important to have a contingency plan. Because sometimes,
tragedy strikes and actors pass away while they're in the middle of filming a movie or TV show.
Bruce Lee was a superstar whose influence on martial arts films, and action films in general,
cannot be overstated. His tragic death in 1973 was a shocking loss for movie fans everywhere.
23 years later, his son Brandon made his own acting debut in a quest to live up to
his father's legacy. But just seven years after that, the younger Lee was also dead.
The 1994 film adaptation of the underground comic book series,
The Crow, was supposed to be Brandon Lee's big break. It was a low-budget production,
but it had plenty of buzz thanks to its ultra-cool source material, and Lee's physical skills seemed
poised to elevate the film into a cultural phenomenon. Several scenes involved prop guns
and "blank" rounds, which while not a risk free prop would obviously be safer than live rounds.
But poor prop handling left a defective blank in the barrel of the prop gun. When Michael Massee,
who played the character Funboy, fired the gun while filming a scene with Lee,
it mortally struck him in the abdomen. To complete the film after his death,
producers used stunt doubles and special effects to create the illusion of Lee in several scenes.
The Hunger Games film franchise was massive enough to attract some serious acting talent,
including one of the greatest thespians of his generation. Philip Seymour Hoffman played Head
Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee in all but the first film. But he tragically died of a drug overdose
at age 46 in 2014, while still in the midst of shooting the final Hunger Games installment.
Because Mockingjay, the last entry in the book trilogy, was split into two films,
Hoffman's death left gaps in both parts, including one emotionally vital scene between Plutarch
and the franchise's heroine, Katniss Everdeen. Hoffman had several conversations with director
Francis Lawrence concerning how to stage and perform the scene, but nothing had been filmed.
The producers never even considered using CGI and other special effects to replace Hoffman. Instead,
they changed scenes so that other characters took on those moments, though they did employ some
CGI to add a few tweaks where necessary. For the big emotional moment with Katniss, they hit upon
the idea of having Plutarch convey his lines in the form of a letter read by another character.
"I wish I could give you a proper goodbye, but with both Coin and Snow dead,
the fate of the country will be decided tonight, and I can't be seen at your side."
Oliver Reed is famous for two things: acting and drinking. His reputation for binge drinking may
be slightly exaggerated, as it's claimed that he once drank 126 pints of beer in 24 hours and then
did a handstand on the bar to celebrate. But there's a reason why that legend came to be.
By the time he was in talks with Ridley Scott to appear in 2000's Gladiator,
he had to promise the director that he would remain sober for the duration of the shoot. He
broke that promise immediately, reasoning that if he wasn't physically present on set it was okay.
One night while filming in Malta, Reed went out to a local pub and began imbibing. He then met a
group of sailors and ended up in a drinking contest. Halfway through the competition,
he declared that he didn't feel good, collapsed, and died on the floor of the bar. Inconveniently,
Reed still had many scenes left to shoot, but Scott managed to get around this loss through
rewrites, and by using CGI technology with footage of Reed that had already been shot.
Hardly anyone could've predicted that 2001's The Fast and the Furious would spawn one of the most
globally successful movie series of the 21st century. But somehow, by the time Furious 7 was
released in 2015, the franchise was indeed one of the highest-grossing ever at the box office.
The seventh entry in the series was the last one to feature Paul Walker,
one of the main stars of the franchise. During a break in filming, he was driving in his Porsche
with a friend when the friend lost control and crashed into trees and a lamppost,
killing them both. Walker's daughter sued Porsche, claiming that the carmaker's
safety cage wasn't strong enough. But Porsche argued that Walker had made
modifications to his car that undermined its safety, and eventually won in court.
Walker's death put Furious 7 in jeopardy, but when a franchise is that massive, producers will
always find a way. So the filmmakers used a mix of CGI magic and body doubles, including Walker's
own brothers, to complete the film. Also added was a touching final scene between Walker and
his co-star Vin Diesel as the two race one final time. The moment almost explicitly acknowledges
Walker's death, although officially his character merely retires from the adrenaline-soaked life.
"Hey! Thought you could leave without saying goodbye?"
When Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication in January 2008,
his most famous role as The Joker in The Dark Knight hadn't yet been released,
though he had finished shooting all of his scenes. But one film that he hadn't finished
was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Director Terry Gilliam's first reaction to
Ledger's death was to scrap the film entirely, but then friends and family convinced him that
he had to finish the project, both for himself and for Ledger's legacy.
Gilliam realized that there was a solution right there in the story, which involves two
distinct versions of reality. Ledger had filmed almost all of the sequences in one reality,
so having his appearance change when shifting to the other one made sense.
So Gilliam then decided to hire not one, but three actors to film the remaining scenes:
Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law. Gilliam later said that he considered
Ledger a co-director on the film, and dedicated it to him upon its release.
John Ritter was a sitcom legend, a master of physical comedy,
and a warm, comforting presence on screen. It was impossible not to like him. Beginning in 2002,
he starred on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,
alongside fellow legend Katey Sagal as his wife and future superstar Kaley Cuoco as one
of his daughters. The show was a hit, and it was renewed for a second season. But after only a few
Season 2 episodes were completed, Ritter died suddenly of an aortic dissection.
His death shocked everyone and left the future of the series in serious doubt.
Instead of simply replacing Ritter with another actor, or writing him out with
a benign explanation, it was decided that his character, Paul Hennessy, would also die. The
tone turned dramatic as the writers explored how the Hennessy family reacted to the sudden passing
of their husband and father. After airing the three Season 2 episodes that Ritter had completed,
the show devoted the rest of its season to what can only be described as mourning. The show was
renewed for a third season, but without Ritter, its ratings declined, and it was canceled in 2005.
"This wasn't supposed to happen, Mom. Not now.
When we were old and gray, and living someplace warm."
Multi-talented R&B singer Aaliyah was on the cusp of acting superstardom in 2001. Her roles
in Romeo Must Die and 2002's Queen of the Damned showcased her as a talent to watch, and led to
a coveted role in one of the most-anticipated sequels of all time: The Matrix Reloaded. One
of the biggest tragedies of Aaliyah's untimely death is how easily it could've been avoided.
She and her team had flown to the Bahamas to shoot a music video, and then they chartered a plane to
take them back to Florida on August 25, 2001. The pilot warned them that they were loading too much
equipment and too many people onto the plane, but they ignored those warnings and insisted that the
flight take off. The plane crashed moments after takeoff, killing everyone on board
At that point, only portions of scenes with Aaliyah as the character Zee
had been filmed for The Matrix Reloaded. The movie had already been delayed several times,
and it was delayed again even more as the Wachowski siblings took a long
time auditioning possible replacements. They eventually settled on Nona Gaye,
who also played the part in the second sequel, The Matrix Revolutions.
John Candy was one of the most beloved comedic actors of his generation. He starred in some
of the most enduring funny films of the 1980s, including Uncle Buck, Home Alone, and Planes,
Trains, and Automobiles. Then in the 90s, he was working on the Western buddy comedy Wagons East.
He didn't really want to make this film, but he owed the studio one more movie on his contract.
Plus, he had a lot of debt stemming from his ownership stake in a Canadian football team.
By March 1994, he'd filmed about one-third of his scenes when he died of a heart attack at the age
of 43. His weight was a lifelong concern, and he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day,
so it was known that he lived with elevated risk of mortality.
To save the film, producers used a stand-in and utilized the insurance payout of $15 million to
pay for digital effects, which inserted existing footage of Candy into various scenes. Although the
producers announced that this worked seamlessly, it's actually not very hard to tell that they used
the same bits of performances several times in the film. Wagons East unfortunately didn't contribute
much to Candy's on-screen legacy, as it currently has a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"I just need a chance. It ain't about the money. I'll leave that to you."
Nearly 70 years after James Dean's tragic death, it's still hard to believe that he
starred in only three major movies. After a few years playing bit parts,
in 1955 he landed big roles in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause.
"You're tearing me apart!"
Those powerhouse performances then led to his role as ranch hand Jett Rink in Giant,
which came out the following year. Dean knew that after two movies in which he played angry,
rebellious teenagers, he needed to do something different. So his role as a
Texas rancher who builds a fortune was an ideal part in a prestige production.
Dean was also a race car enthusiast who wanted to eventually compete in the Indianapolis 500,
and he was even considered a very good driver by professional racers.
He used the money from his acting to buy himself a Triumph Tiger motorcycle and a Porsche 550 Spyder.
Alas, these purchases led to his death just as Giant was wrapping up filming.
On September 30, 1955 at 3:30 P.M., he got a speeding ticket.
Then two hours later, he was involved in a crash that broke his neck and killed him.
The 1983 sci-fi flick Brainstorm was supposed to be a huge cinematic event.
It featured three Oscar-winning actors in the forms of Christopher Walken, Cliff Robertson,
and Louise Fletcher. It also had a director, Douglas Trumbull, an Oscar-winning visual effects
legend. And it boasted a new filming technology that was supposed to revolutionize how we made and
watched movies. But it almost wasn't released. The reason why is simple: the fourth lead role
was played by Natalie Wood, who died under murky circumstances in the middle of filming.
During a weekend break from filming, Wood, Walken, and Wood's husband Robert Wagner climbed aboard
the couple's yacht, which led to Wood’s death by drowning. The death was ruled accidental,
but there remain plenty of unanswered questions about what exactly happened aboard the yacht.
Brainstorm was almost shut down as a result. It was already an expensive debacle,
and the studio decided to use Wood's death as an excuse to claim that it was unreleasable,
and they made an insurance claim to recoup their losses.
But Wood had completed most of her scenes and Trumbull refused to pretend that the film
couldn't be finished. So the claim was denied, and the studio was forced to complete the movie.
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