Filmmakers often run into all sorts of roadblocks in the course of making movies, and the problems are compounded with franchises — the longer a series goes on, the more things can go wrong. But nothing is quite so bad for everyone involved as losing a cast member.
Over the years, a number of movie franchises have had to go on (and some simply can’t) after key members of their cast have died. Often those movies are completed in tribute to the person the project lost, but it’s true that some filmmakers do a better job than others. As the Star Wars series deals with this very issue following the passing of star Carrie Fisher, we've gathered examples of how other major franchises have pivoted following the untimely loss of a lead star.
Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter
Albus Dumbledore is an essential part of the Harry Potter story, so it was devastating to the series when actor Richard Harris, famous for roles in films including Camelot and Gladiator, died at the age of 72 after the completion of the second movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The series would go on for another six movies and Dumbledore would appear in all of them, so the role needed to be recast. Warner Bros. picked Michael Gambon to take over the part. Gambon brought his own spin to Dumbledore rather than try to echo or compete with Harris’ take, which resulted in two pretty distinct versions of the character.
The Oracle in The Matrix
In the original 1999 film, before The Matrix expanded to become a trilogy, protagonist Neo (Keanu Reeves) visits the Oracle, a prophet within the Matrix who helps guide people freed from the program. Gloria Foster was cast as the Oracle in the original movie and reprised the role in The Matrix Reloaded, but died in 2001. The Wachowski Sisters chose to recast the role for the final movie in the series, The Matrix Revolutions, choosing Tony award-winning actress Mary Alice to take over as the Oracle. The Wachowskis explained away the difference in the Revolutions script — the Oracle was another sentient program within the Matrix, and her original shell was destroyed by the Merovingian in The Matrix Reloaded.
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight Rises
Heath Ledger's tragic death took place while Christopher Nolan was editing The Dark Knight, and unlike other actors in this list, the loss happened after Ledger had completed principal photography with his work as the Joker. There's no telling if Nolan might have needed more from Ledger had he still been alive, but the director went on the record to say everything included in the finished movie was from Ledger's performance. While there had been some discussion that a third Christopher Nolan Batman film might have focused more on the Joker, there's no evidence there were any concrete plans to continue Batman’s story with the Clown Prince of Crime one way or another. In any event, the Joker is, presumably, safely stowed in an asylum or prison somewhere for the events of The Dark Knight Rises, and Nolan focused on an adaptation of the “Knightfall” story arc with villain Bane instead.
Inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther
Actor Peter Sellers is probably best remembered for his role as Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling French police officer who often is attempting to solve the theft of a pink diamond known as the Pink Panther. Sellers made many Clouseau movies during his career, but died in 1980, two years before Trail of the Pink Panther was released. The movie was assembled from unused footage of Sellers as Clouseau throughout the franchise, with anything that needed filling in being shot with stand-ins. The result is a disjointed mess, and Sellers’ widow, Lynn Frederick, successfully sued United Artists and director Blake Edwards for over $1 million for using the footage.
Brian O'Connor in The Fast and the Furious
Partway through filming Furious 7, Fast and Furious star Paul Walker was killed in a car crash. Walker had appeared in six of the seven movies in the franchise, and at the time of his death, several of his key scenes in the movie had yet to be shot. Universal employed special effects house Weta Digital to digitally recreate Walker for his scenes, with the help of his two brothers, Caleb and Cody. Weta used Caleb and Cody, to stand in for Paul in scenes, using CGI and reference footage to place Paul’s face over his theirs in about 260 different shots. Still more shots were completed with the help of another stand-in, actor John Brotherton. And another 90 shots were created using outtakes and other older footage of Paul, which were altered to fit the context of Furious 7.
Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars
Industrial Light and Magic has pioneered some new techniques for resurrecting actors and their characters in the Star Wars franchise. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, actor Peter Cushing — Grand Moff Tarkin in 1977’s A New Hope — was completely recreated as a computer-generated character. (Cushing, who died in 1994, was brought back in a similar way for Revenge of the Sith, although only in a short cameo appearance at a distance.) Actor Guy Henry played Tarkin on set, and his performance, recreating Cushing’s as closely as possible, was used as the guide for the CGI model of Tarkin. ILM also found a plaster cast of Cushing’s face, made for the 1984 movie Top Secret!, that was scanned to get its digital model as close as possible to what the actor really looked like. The whole effect took about 18 months of work.
Jor-El in Superman Returns
The 1978 Superman: The Movie kicked off the four-film Superman series, casting Christopher Reeve as the Kryptonian hero, and the illustrious Marlon Brando as Superman’s father, Jor-El. But when director Bryan Singer looked to sequel/reboot Superman IV with Superman Returns, both Reeve and Brando had died. Singer cast Brandon Routh as Kal-El for the new movie, but wanted to bring back Brando as Jor-El in order to capture the feeling of the original film. The filmmakers dug into old footage of Brando as Jor-El, discovering unused scenes from Superman: The Movie that were perfect. With a little CGI magic, Brando was able to reprise the role of Jor-El two years after his death.
Eric Draven in The Crow
The son of Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee was a martial artist and actor like his father, and The Crow was to be his breakout role. In shooting one of the movie’s few remaining scenes, Lee was killed after an on set accident with a prop gun. Lee’s fiancee, Eliza Hutton, and the cast and crew convinced director Alex Proyas to finish the film. The filmmakers completed the last few scenes mostly by using body doubles for the Eric Draven character and avoiding showing their faces. In shots where Lee’s face had to appear, it was taken from existing footage and altered digitally to be incorporated into the finished movie. Subsequent The Crow movies have all recast the role of Eric Draven.
Phil Hornshaw is a freelance writer and the co-author of So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler’s Guide to Time Travel and The Space Hero’s Guide to Glory. He was hoping the latter would help him get Han Solo hair, but so far he’s been unsuccessful. He lives with his wife and annoying cats in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter at @PhilHornshaw.
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