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After the tragic death of Hollywood actor Paul Walker, fans of the Fast and the Furious series were left with one mind-boggling question: How are the filmmakers going to complete Walker’s character in Furious 7?
Using the CGI approach, director James Wan brought life to Walker’s character Brian O’Conner in the Furious 7 movie. WETA Digital was hired to do the task of transforming old and unused footages of Walker in the previous films into new shots.
Speaking to the press, Fast and Furious producer Neal Moritz said: “Then it came to how could we actually finish Furious 7. We had shot most of the movie with Paul, but we wondered how we were actually going to make this work. I have to say, he was looking down on us. Because of unused footage that we had from previous movies and the use of new technology, we were able to complete the film inspired by Paul’s spirit and give him and his best-known character a perfect cinematic send-off. This movie is a testament to his legacy.”
For live action sequences, WETA Digital sought the help of four actors with similar body type and height to Walker, as reported on Animation Xpress. For the close-up shots, Walker’s two brothers Cody and Caleb volunteered as stand- ins.
Utilizing motion capture technology, the body movements of the actors were used as the base layer of Walker’s character. Meanwhile, Walker’s CG face was match-moved on the live-shot footage. Moreover, WETA Digital used several effects and warps to get the perfect volume and depth of Walker’s body.
This is not the first time for Hollywood to utilize such technology. The death of Phillip Seymore Hoffman last year inspired Director Francis Lawerence to digitally recreate the Hunger Games actor to appear in the last scenes of the series. Oliver Reed, who died in the middle of the production of the movie Gladiator, was also brought back to life by director Ridley Scott using the same technology.
