Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died from a heroin overdose on Feb. 2 at the age of 46. This Oscar-winning actor is probably best known for his role as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games trilogy, although he has been in many other films such as The Big Lebowski (1998), Capote (2005, Oscar winning), Mission Impossible: III (2006), Moneyball (2011) and The Master (2012, Oscar nominated). He was a talented actor who will be sorely missed by fans and audiences.
Sadly, Hoffman isn’t the only actor in recent years who has died before filming or before the production of his or her film had been completed. However tragic and heartbreaking these deaths may be, it’s always particularly interesting to see how these movies and franchises cope with the loss and make the difficult decision on how, or if, they will complete their work.
Take for example the unfortunate and tragic death of Paul Walker, age 40, in a car crash in November 2013. Best known for his role as Brian O’Connor in the Fast & Furious film franchise, his death occurred during a break from filming the upcoming seventh installment of Fast & Furious. Now, in the middle of production, the filmmakers and actors must not only deal with the passing of a colleague and friend but also with the decision of how or if they will finish filming the movie.
Clearly, there is no easy way to move on when such things happen, but there are ways that it can be done while still honoring both the actor and the film. One such example is the aftermath of Heath Ledger’s death in January 2008. Ledger was nearly finished filming The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the time of his death, according to BuzzFeed. Ledger had several scenes left to film, scenes which were ultimately shot with actors Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell all stepping in to film various parts of Ledger’s character.
Another way that films, in particular franchises, deal with the continuation of their movies is by casting another actor in the role of the late actor. This was an arguable success when, after Richard Harris lost his battle with Hodgkin’s disease in 2002, the makers of the Harry Potter films recast Michael Gambon as Professor Dumbledore.
Also, filmmakers sometimes recreate the late actor’s image using computer generated imagery. Following Oliver Reed’s sudden death soon before filming wrapped up on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), the director chose to superimpose a recreation of the actor’s face onto a body double. Similarly, Marlon Brando, who died in 2004 and played Jor-El in the original Superman (1978) movie, was computer generated for all his scenes in 2006’s Superman Returns. His voice was pieced together from various others previously recorded Jor-El’s dialogue.
According to SlashFilm.com, Hoffman left behind one major scene in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, and while it was an important, emotional scene, the filmmakers feel that they will be able to digitally recreate the actor for those few moments and still preserve the authenticity of the film. Whether this will be a successful move for the movie, only time will tell.
Samantha Stazko, a freshman management and accounting major, summed up the feelings of many Hunger Games fans.
“Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death will definitely have an effect on the feel of the final Hunger Games movie,” Stazko said. “I was, and still am, extremely excited to see him continue as Plutarch. I have no real preference of how filmmakers deal with the last few scenes of the movie. My main concern is that they preserve the integrity of the book.”
Ultimately, it can be argued that what truly matters in situations like these is that the fans are satisfied with the final result. Perhaps this satisfaction is the ultimate honor that can be bestowed upon an actor’s legacy.
Claire Farrow can be reached at claire.farrow@spartans.ut.edu