Making a movie is hard, but it's a whole lot harder when an actor dies in the middle of
filming. How does a cast and crew handle such a shocking event? In all sorts of ways, as
it turns out. These are the actors who died mid-production, and the way their movies coped.
Even though Paul Walker made a name for himself in Hollywood with roles in films like Varsity
Blues and Eight Below, his performance as Brian O'Conner in the Fast and Furious franchise
made him an international superstar.
Revving up with The Fast and the Furious opposite Vin Diesel in 2001, the duo's hot rod franchise
ascended into the stratosphere at top speed. All told, the franchise has raked in a whopping
$5.8 billion.
Filming was already underway for Furious 7 when Walker, 40, and his racing partner, Roger
Rodas, 38, died in a horrific crash of Walker's Porsche, which Rodas was driving.
Production of the film came to a halt until Universal Pictures could talk with members
of Walker's family, who eventually gave filmmakers the go-ahead to find a way to wrap up Brian's
storyline.
As a result, Walker's likeness and actions were recreated with the aid of his brothers,
Caleb and Cody, among others. Furious 7 became the first film in the Fast and Furious franchise
to cross the billion-dollar mark at the international box office, amassing a mammoth take of more
than $1.5 billion.
"Hey, thought you could leave without saying goodbye."
Natalie Wood's career included child stardom in the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street
and adult success in such classics as Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story.
Tragically, Wood's life was cut short at age 43, at which time she was filming the 1983
science fiction film Brainstorm. The film was near the end of its production when, during
Thanksgiving break, Wood, her husband Robert Wagner, and her Brainstorm co-star Christopher
Walken embarked on a weekend boating excursion to Catalina Island.
During the trip, Wood was originally thought to have drowned accidentally. The case has
since been reopened, but has yet to be resolved.
While Wood reportedly completed filming most of her scenes, director Douglas Trumbull,
who created visual effects for such film luminaries as Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, and Steven
Spielberg, still struggled to finish the movie.
Trumbull rewrote some scenes and omitted others, including a scene involving a pond with Wood
and Walken. Brainstorm was released in the fall of 1983, nearly two years after the legendary
actress' death.
Shrek is a landmark film for many reasons, including becoming the first-ever Oscar winner
for Best Animated Feature. Produced by DreamWorks, the film has spawned blockbuster sequels,
television specials, and even Shrek the Musical on Broadway.
It's hard to imagine the titular ogre without his indelible Scottish brogue, courtesy of
his voice actor, Mike Myers.
"Oh come on. I was just kidding."
But that very nearly happened: Chris Farley was initially hired to play Shrek. Sadly,
the Saturday Night Live cast member and Tommy Boy star died unexpectedly in 1997 at age
33. Farley had completed one film before his death that was released posthumously, the
1998 adventure comedy Almost Heroes, co-starring Matthew Perry and directed by Christopher
Guest.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
It's a lesser-known fact, however, that he was working on Shrek at the time of his death.
Farley had recorded 80- to 90 percent of Shrek's dialogue before his untimely demise. Myers
was brought in to give his own unique take on the character, and the film went on to
become a legendary success.
The world was shocked when Carrie Fisher passed away in 2016. In the midst of mass cultural
mourning, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had to find a way to set the
stage for Leia's exit from the series in The Rise of Skywalker.
The Last Jedi sees the steely heroine survive the Battle of Crait, effectively creating
a quandary for how the Resistance general would be presented in the next film.
Director J.J. Abrams turned to unused footage of Fisher from The Force Awakens and The Last
Jedi to craft the actor's Star Wars swan song in Rise of Skywalker. That performance was
aided by the use of body doubles and digital effects. In the end, Leia does not survive
in physical form by the time The Rise of Skywalker concludes, ultimately joining her brother,
Luke Skywalker, as a Force spirit.
This wasn't the first time digital magic had been used to create a Fisher performance,
as CGI along with a Fisher body double was used for a crucial scene at the conclusion
of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
"The transmission we received. What is it they've sent us?" "Hope."
Actor Vic Morrow and two child actors lost their lives in 1982, while filming a sequence
involving a helicopter for Twilight Zone: The Movie. Morrow played a bigot named Bill
Connor, who gets a taste of his own medicine: He first lands in the KKK-infested Deep South
of the 1950s, where he experiences racism through the eyes of an African-American man
about to be lynched, and then lands in Germany as a Jewish man seized by Nazis.
Missing from the movie is a scene set in Vietnam, in which Bill was meant to save a pair of
Vietnamese children during an air raid by American forces. Tragically, the helicopter
being flown for the scene crashed, instantly killing the actor and the two children and
injuring those onboard.
While Twilight Zone: The Movie contains four discrete stories in all, the film was naturally
overshadowed by the tragedy. In a subsequent involuntary manslaughter trial, director John
Landis and others were acquitted of the most serious charges, while a civil suit filed
against Warner Bros. and Landis was settled out of court.
John Candy was a beloved actor who won the hearts of audiences worldwide with a string
of hit films including Stripes, Spaceballs, Uncle Buck, Home Alone, and the quintessential
Thanksgiving holiday classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
A dependable actor who worked constantly over the course of his career, the 43-year-old
Candy was working on the Western comedy Wagons East near Durango, Mexico, when he collapsed
on set and died of a heart attack in March of 1994.
Filming was completed on Wagons East with stand-ins and special visual effects, but
the film was ultimately doomed to fail: It was thrashed by critics, marking an unceremonious
end to Candy's otherwise brilliant career.
"You gimpy old drunk!" "Ma'am?" And John goes flying into a wagon.
Still, Candy's performance as a drunken wagon master hired to bring a group of settlers
back east shines with undeniable talent.
Oliver Reed played Proximo, a gladiator trainer and mentor to Russell Crowe's Maximus, in
Gladiator. While Reed was clearly a supporting player, there's no question he's a strong
presence.
Reed's sudden death of a heart attack at age 61 during a break in filming in May of 1999
was a huge blow to the production. Reluctant to recast Reed's role, director Ridley Scott
turned to his visual effects wizards for help.
Since CGI was already being utilized to create the Colosseum, Scott opted to use the technology
to digitally superimpose Reed's face onto an extra to complete a crucial scene. Since
this was 1999, the idea of digitally recreating a character in some form was still relatively
new.
In fact, this marked only the second time in movie history this technique was used.
Scott used body doubles for other scenes, including Proximo's death scene, in which
he is only shown from behind. The late actor was rewarded with a BAFTA nomination for Best
Supporting Actor by the British Film and Television Academy.
Brandon Lee tragically died during production on The Crow on March 31, 1993, at age 28.
The only son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, he was poised to become a superstar with
The Crow. Sadly, the big screen tale of Eric Draven, a murder victim who comes back to
take revenge on his killers, would make Lee himself the victim of a tragic accident.
Lee lost his life while filming a scene in which Funboy, played by Michael Massee, encounters
Draven in a doorway and fires a gun at him. It was supposed to shoot a blank, but in a
freak occurrence, it accidentally fired a projectile, striking Lee in the abdomen.
He died 12 hours later. Instead of shelving the film, director Alex Proyas moved forward
with completing it. The actor's scenes were completed with the use of digital effects
and Lee's stunt double, Chad Stahelski, who went on to direct the first three chapters
of the John Wick series.
While multiple sequels and a TV series ensued, attempts to reboot the franchise with Draven
as the lead character have been unsuccessful.
Heath Ledger's death at age 28 sent shockwaves through the industry. Fans felt the full impact
of his loss when The Dark Knight premiered seven months later, featuring Ledger's instantly
iconic interpretation of the Joker. But his last movie was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Cast as con artist Tony Shepard for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Ledger had been a key
part of getting the movie greenlit. Instead of using technology to try and create a digital
Tony, director Terry Gilliam opted to write Tony's changing appearance into the film.
As a result, Tony uses the magical Imaginarium to transform into three different iterations
of himself.
Lucky for Gilliam, three heavy-hitters — Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell — were
available to play Tony in the mystical realm, while Ledger represents the character in the
real world. Body doubles helped Gilliam round out Ledger's role where fill-in was needed,
and in the end, the film went from a $30 million production in danger of being shelved to a
modest hit that made more than $64 million worldwide.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.