How ‘Furious 7’ Created Digital Paul Walker For His Unfinished Scenes

When Paul Walker tragically passed away midway through the production of Furious 7, Universal and director James Wan faced a difficult task.

Do they scuttle the film or charge ahead, using rewrites and body doubles to finish Walker’s performance? They ultimately went with the latter option, with a the digitally recreated Walker appearing in the film brought to life by the same company that made Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital was quietly hired to finish the journey of Walker’s Bryan O’Connor.

Furious 7 is actually very tasteful on this front. Viewers who pay careful attention will note that the majority of Walker’s unfinished scenes are completed using his brothers Caleb and Cody as doubles. When combined with CGI, carefully chosen camera angles and the right lighting, they are the spitting image of Paul.

Walker is not the first actor to get temporarily revived through visual effects.

Oliver Reed was digitally recreated for his unfinished scenes in Gladiator when he passed away during production and Nancy Marchand had one final scene on The Sopranos after her death. And then there are the countless commercials that resurrect iconic celebrities like Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee to hock modern products.

That doesn't even mention the things that have been done with Michael Jackson.

Furious 7 opened in theaters today.