Experience Hollywood: how to remove movie after the death of the actor?
The death of an actor during filming, producers poses a difficult question: what to do with the movie? How this problem is solved in Hollywood?
Genevieve Hassan
Correspondent Bi-bi-si in show business
If you take the relatively recent (in December 2016) care Carrie Fisher, as did her brother Todd, who plays Leah, the actress will still appear in the ninth episode of “Star wars”.
But instead use computer graphics (CGI), as was the case with Peter Cushing in the movie “Outlaw-single. Star wars: History”, the creators will use archival footage, which depicted the actress.
It’s certainly not the first film that is in some way affected by the death of one of its main stars in the midst of filming.
Don Rickles, known for the voice of Mr. Potato head from the trilogy of “toy Story”, died last week without completing the voice of his character for the fourth film in this series.
We may recall Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was only a few days to finalize the latest sequel to “the Hunger games” when he died from a drug overdose.
Oliver reed died while filming Gladiator in 1999, Heath Ledger died in 2008, working on the film “the Imaginarium of doctor Parnassus”, and Brandon Lee was fatally wounded on the set of the movie “the crow” in 1993.
In each of these cases, Directors have resorted to various methods to continue and complete the survey: rewriting the script, using computer graphics or the involvement of other actors.
In the case of “Gladiator” the script was altered to include previously filmed scenes with Reid; there is also used a stand-in for General plans that “attached” by means of computer graphics head of the deceased actor.
One of those who recreated the reed on the screen was Rob Harvey, who was responsible for special effects on the set of “Gladiator” and received an Oscar for this work; now he heads his own company for special effects.
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“When he was gone, we had to do something about the ending of the film, he recalls. — It all looked so strange idea, especially in a time when technology was not yet so developed”.
“We got together with the editor and looked through all footage with Oliver material. We wanted to find some lines that were thrown out or rejected takes, to make it something sensible,” he continues.
“We had to re-record the takes with Russell [Crowe] on a green background and reshoot doors and grilles, so Oliver could talk through them with Russell and actually cut part of it out.”
“We only “played” with his beard [for consistency], but the head had to cut and stick to the body double, well, we had to Tinker with that pretty to watch. We tried to make it much more gracefully, and the result was rather cleverly in terms of the script, and filming”.
Harvey also worked on Terry Gilliam’s movie “the Imaginarium of doctor Parnassus”, where johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude law replaced Heath Ledger in different neonate episodes.
“With this film, it seemed that all would fail, — says Harvey. But since this is a Gilliam film, it was possible to persuade anyone to do anything.”
Of course, this is all a costly affair. But in most cases, any additional production will be paid by comprehensive insurance. Sometimes can and does remake the film, if needed.
Insurance covering the manufacture of standard feature films, includes the payment of costs in case of illness or injury of the actors.
“In most cases, someone breaks a leg, and everything stops for a week or two, because you can’t make a movie until the person recovers,” says Matthew Torrible, head of the Department of insurance in the film and television industry from the company Quartz Insurance Brokers Ltd.
“In case of death the insurance pays costs that you somehow came out, and [optional] the installation; or for a reshoot with another actor and the necessary adaptations of the script; or will pay for the failure [of the production of the painting] that will cover all the costs that have already been made at the time of the production company”.
However, insurers can refuse to pay if an actor or actress died from the disease, of whom he knew before hand.
Actors who died during filming
Marilyn Monroe, “something must happen”, 1962, was not finished;.
Bruce Lee “Game of death” 1972 was originally released incomplete version, followed by a feature-length film in 1978 with just after the death of Lee episodes;.
Natalie wood “Brainstorm”, 1981 — complete with stand;.
River Phoenix, “Bad blood”, 1993 — rewired in 2012;.
Chris Farley, “Shrek”, 1997 — the voice of the protagonist was invited by Mike Myers;.
Alia, “the Matrix Reloaded”, 2001 — as Z instead starred Nona Gay;.
Paul Walker, “fast & furious 7”, 2013 — completed with doubles, among whom were the Walker brothers.
Says Terrible, very rarely it happens that the shooting of the film has to collapse, because all are interested in to complete the project and earn.
Rob Harvey is quite cold to the idea of creating a hero that is entirely generated by computer graphics.
“Full computer version of someone else-only if it is not for General plans would look weird. They will have to smash his head, and somehow they will solve this problem, I think,” the expert says about the new episode of “Star wars”.
“You can build a computer generated character to use the motion capture technology from another scene and attach it to the created model, but you still the same man will not get,” says Harvey.
Garth TWA, who teaches production of digital cinema in London Ravensbourne College and writing a column about the movie, I agree with this point of view.
“As for Philip Seymour Hoffman, his appeal was not only in the face of what else it would be possible to recreate with the help of graphics. But he was one of the most respected actors of his generation in Hollywood, so it would be impossible to obtain the same level of acting”.
Hoffman has appeared in the last two sequels of “the hunger games”, since most of the scenes were completed before his death — not without some digital kudesnichestvo with the available footage.
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However, one important scene where his character finally gives the Council Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence), in need of alteration scenario, and as a result this advice the heroine sets out the woody character of Harelson in the letter.
Needless to say that fans of these films threw in the cinemas not only to watch the sequel, but to see how the creators came out with the hero Hoffman.
“This is going to sound terribly heartless, but this heartless business — I think that studios really benefit from this, says TBA. All I want to see how it turned out; exactly as everyone wanted to see “the Dark knight” with Heath Ledger who died before the film’s release]”.
“This is the public recognition and free advertising of a sort,” adds the expert.