It may be less than two weeks since Paul Walker’s sudden death in a car crash just outside of Los Angeles on November 30, but the producers behind the “Fast & Furious” movies are frantically trying to figure out what to do with the seventh installment in the action franchise.
According to a story in the Dec. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers hope that they can salvage the footage they already have and figure out a way to give Walker’s character, former police officer Brian O’Conner, a proper send-off.
“[W]riter Chris Morgan now is at work crafting revisions to the script that Universal execs hope can retire Walker’s character from the series using scenes already shot,” a source told magazine. “If he succeeds, cast and crew could be called back to work by late January — but that’s a big if.”
Unfortunately for producers, this might not be possible. Exactly half of the actor’s scenes had film with considerable amount of work scheduled to be completed in the week following Thanksgiving, according to sources.
Discussions about what to do about the “Fast & Furious 7” began the morning after Walker died, though an insider said that the talks were first and foremost about “supporting the shocked and bereaved family, cast and crew.”
The film business is just that, though. As crass as it may seem, the “Fast & Furious” series is a cash cow for Universal, and the studio and filmmakers were going to have to figure out a way to deal with Walker’s unexpected death on more than a personal level.
For the time being, the studio has declared force majeure – meaning that an unforeseeable complication has made progress impossible – temporarily shutting down the production, which saves money, but comes with its own set of complications.
“Shutting down saves some money but creates a thicket of issues since cast and crew — and their guilds — have varying deals governing whether they can be kept on hold and for how long,” the magazine reports.
Also, while its not official yet, the film’s July 11, 2014 release date is likely to get pushed back. Fox has already moved “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” which was originally set to come out on July 18, up a week.
Fortunately, for Universal, if the previously shot footage is deemed to be unsalvageable, they most likely won’t be on the hook for the the millions they’ve already poured into the film.
“According to a knowledgeable source, the studio already has poured about $150 million into the film, a bill that its insurance firm, Fireman’s Fund, might have to pay in full if Universal concludes the picture must be started anew,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But there is a hope that things won’t get to that point. And fans of the franchise have been very vocal about wanting to see Walker’s scenes in the film.
Regardless, the series will go on, with a January restart the goal one way or another. An unnamed source also pointed out that as morbid as it may sound, Walker’s death may help film’s bottom line.
“Sadly, it will probably make people more interested,” a Universal insider told the mag.