14 DAY TRIAL // Oscar-winning actor Sir Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment over the weekend from a suspected drug overdose. He still had one week of shooting for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,” the final installment in the series, but his death won’t affect the franchise.
Lionsgate has already set the record straight on this, saying that both remaining films, “Mockingjay Part 1” and “Part 2,” will be released on time and that Hoffman’s death, while very regrettable, won’t have any considerable impact on the production.
According to the Daily Mail, that’s because the studio has already decided to replace him with GCI. In other words, the Plutarch Heavensbee we might see in some final scenes won’t really be Hoffman.
“These days the technology of using someone’s likeness is a whole lot easier to do,” Rob Legato, effects supervisor on major films including “The Wolf of Wall Street,” says.
“I won’t say you could generate a Philip Seymour Hoffman with all the acting ability, but you could certainly replicate him for a shot or two,” Legato continues.
In all fairness, this has been done before, with the most notable example being that of Oliver Reed, who died right before completing his work on “Gladiator.” Because the costs of the production were incredibly high, he was replaced by GCI in some scenes.