5. Aaliyah (January 16th, 1979 – August 25th, 2001)
Age: 22
Cause of Death: Airplane Crash
Movie Affected: The Matrix Trilogy
What the Studio Did: Given a role in the sci-fi trilogy but dying soon before filming began in an airplane crash, the studio at first was going to write out her role in respect of the actress. The final decision came to give the role to Nona Gaye to replace the late actress.
4. Roy Scheider (November 10th 1932 – February 10th, 2008)
Age: 75
Cause of Death: Multiple Myeloma
Movie Affected: Iron Cross
What the Studio Did: Dying with no major scenes filmed and no major plot points covered the studio originally was going to scrap the scenes all together and just replace him with another actor. During filming though the director’s father passed away of same reasons, and instead of finding someone new, they used a stand-in with CGI and latex masks out of honor for both Scheider and the director’s father.
3. Heath Ledger (April 4th, 1979 – January 22nd, 2008)
Age: 28
Cause of Death: Overdose of Prescription Drugs
Movie Affected: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
What the Studio Did: Production shut down for a few months after the passing of Ledger, the studio lucked out with some clever rewrites in the fantasy film and the cooperation of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. They finished the movie as intended and dedicated it to the memory of Heath Ledger. Depp, Farrell, and Law also gave their entire earnings from the movie to Heath’s daughter to make sure her future would be secure.
2. Paul Walker (September 12th, 1973 – November 30th, 2013)
Age: 40
Cause of Death: Car Accident
Movie Affected: Fast & Furious 7
What the Studio Did: With only some of his scenes filmed in the latest of the popular movie franchise, the production was canceled for a few months after his tragic accident. Though announced that his character will die in the new movie, information about how it will happen has not been released yet. It has been announced that the 7th in this series will be dedicated in his memory.
1. Philip Seymour Hoffman (August 23rd 1967 – February 2nd, 2014)
Age: 46
Cause of Death: Drug Overdose
Movie Affected: The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 & 2
What the Studio Did: With a major in the Hunger Games series, the studio did not want to recast since they had a majority of his scenes filmed but some pretty major ones left to go, the studio decided to CGI his face onto a stand-in actor to finish up filming of Part 2.
Author Bio: Influenced by his film-buff father, Matthew Keith exposes himself to such great films as Pulp Fiction, Airplane, American Graffiti and Young Frankenstein as he grew up. These movies opened up his horizon and made him the movie fanatic he is today.