Filming Halted on Fast and Furious 7 after thoughts of scrapping and starting Filming Over.
Because the studio is insured, the cost of scrapping the ‘Fast and Furious 7’ production is not a factor, according to The Wrap.
The producers of ‘Fast and Furious 7’ are considering ending the entire film and starting over due to the death of Paul Walker.
The nearly $200 million-budget production has been frozen in its tracks since the tragic death of Walker, one of the lead actors in the film, on Saturday. The production is more than halfway finished, but many of Walker’s key scenes remained to be shot.
Universal Pictures, the producers and director James Wan have been in constant consultation this week to decide on different options, according to an individual with knowledge of the conversations.
Since, the studio is insured for unexpected losses such as this one, the cost of scrapping the production is not a major role determining whether to continue filming or not.
One possible potion would be to start filming all over. Several individuals involved in production have argued different scenarios. One being that Paul Walker’s character is completely removed. While another scenario would be to include him into the feature film.
The Fast and Furious franchise centers on a group of adrenaline-loving criminals. Since the Franchise has started they have added actors such as Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Ludacris, and Tyrese.
There has not been a official statement made to start over, and a final verdict as to the direction of the project is still up in the air. Overall, producers and directors want to get the movie right and not rush a decision.
The main concern, the second insider said, is to preserve the integrity of the franchise, which drives hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the studio. Producers want to be careful not to force the movie to conform to the original cast just for the sake of preserving Walker’s scenes. Another insider said it would be hard to envision the film not including a storyline around Walker’s character, O’Conner.
Right now the conversation has veered away from the notion of using special effects to put Paul Walker’s face on someone else’s body, which is certainly possible. Part of the difficulty coming to a resolution on the project’s direction is that many people are involved in the decision, including Universal entertainment chief Jeff Shell, studio chairman Donna Langley, producers Neal Moritz and Vin Diesel, the director and others.
“Fast & Furious 6,” released this past spring, took in $800 million around the world.
One of the biggest concerns is how Paul Walker died. Since, the feature film glorifies and centers around street racing many argue that it would be to insensitive and cliche for Paul Walker’s character to be killed in a car accident. Hence, the need for producers to start over.
But in that case, the studio would certainly miss its release date of July 11, 2014 and I doubt Universal plans on changing the release date.
