The Rabbit Hole
The passing of a beloved actor or actress always breaks the hearts of fans and admirers. The untimely death of a young star at the peak of their career or the shocking loss of a veteran are tragic enough on their own, but when they die in the middle of a project, their unfinished business leaves the cast, crews, and audiences unfulfilled. Here are five examples of movies that were finished after the death of one of their stars, preserving their final performances.
Heath Ledger was the heartthrob who rose to fame in films like Ten Things I Hate About You, A Knights Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. After finishing filming as the Joke in the highly anticipated The Dark Knight, Ledger began work on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. In the story he plays a mysterious outsider named Tony, who joins a theater troupe on a mission to rescue a girl.
About half way through filming, on January 22 2008, Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper and masseuse. His death was rule an accidental overdose of prescription medications.
Production on The Imaginarium was immediately disrupted, the suspended indefinitely as director Terry Gilliam tried to decide what to do with the film. Deciding to keep Ledger’s footage intact, Gilliam cast Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law to portray transformed versions of Tony as he travels through the magical realms. Filming resumed in March 2008. The release date is set for September 24, 2009.
Here is the official teaser trailer:
Beginning as a child actress in films like Tomorrow Is Forever and Miracle on 34th Street, Natalie Wood went on to appear in the classics Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story.
In 1981 she was playing a researcher in the science fiction film Brainstorm. On November 29, at the age of 43, while the cast and crew were on Thanksgiving break, she drowned near Catalina Island. Wood, her husband Robert Wagner, and co-star Christopher Walken spent the weekend on the Wagner’s yacht. Somehow she fell from the boat after a night of drinking. There were no witnesses and her body wasn’t found until the next morning. Speculation over the circumstances continues today, though it’s officially ruled as an accidental death.
Her climactic scene and many other crucial shots for Brainstorm had not yet been filmed and it was two years before the film was finished by using body doubles, creative shots, and whatever footage they already had. The film was critically acclaimed but bombed at the box office.
The trailer for Brainstorm:
A hilarious comedic actor, John Candy appeared in such memorable films as Spaceballs, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and The Blues Brothers.
In 1994, he was filming Wagons East! a film he was contractually obligated to complete. On the morning of March 4, his bodyguard discovered him non-responsive in his hotel room. He passed away from a fatal heart attack resulting from a blockage of one of his coronary arteries at the age of 43.
The remaining scenes were rewritten to exclude him, or stand-ins and digital inserts were used. The film was released in August, with John playing an alcoholic wagon master who takes a group of settlers back east to their homes. Though this was the last project he worked on, it was not the last film he appeared in. Canadian Bacon, the only non-documentary film Michael Moore has made, was released in 1995.
This video shows an example of a scene used twice in the movie:
A British actor with an impressive resume, Oliver Reed is best known for roles in movies like Oliver! and The Three Musketeers. He also had a notable reputation as a heavy drinker.
In 1999 he was filming the role of Proximo, a former gladiator who trains Russell Crowe’s character Maximus, for the movie Gladiator. After a night of intense drinking at The Pub in Malta, where Gladiator was being filmed, he suffered a heart attack which took his life at age 61. This left the filmmakers with major scenes, including Proximo’s dramatic death, incomplete.
Director Ridley Scott began a $3 million project to digitally recreate Reed’s likeness. His body double was filmed and then a 3D digital image of Reed’s face was embedded onto the double. The film was a box office success and critically acclaimed, with 7 Oscar nominations and 5 wins, including Best Picture.
Here’s Part 1 of the documentary “Resurrecting Proximo,” which covers the cast and crew’s reaction to the tragic loss and the technology they used to bring Proximo to life.
[Part 2] [Part 3]
The son of Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee followed in the footsteps of his father making action movies like Legacy of Rage and Showdown in Little Tokyo. At age 28, he was filming The Crow, playing Eric Draven, a man who was brutally murdered with his fiancé the night before their wedding, then brought back to life by the crow to enact his revenge.
Towards the end of the shooting schedule, they were filming a scene in which Draven is shot. “Dummy” cartridges were used for filming close-ups of the gun. When it came time for a wide shot of the shooting, the gun was loaded with blanks. No one knew that there was a dislodged bullet left in the gun from earlier shots. As they filmed the scene, Lee was shot in the abdomen and immediately rushed to the hospital. He died later from severe internal hemorrhaging.
The remaining scenes were finished using a stunt double and special effects. Though studios were wary about taking on the film, Miramax promoted it and it did well at the box office, earning over $50 million.
Here is the scene in which Brandon Lee was accidentally shot: