Production Halted On Heath Ledger's Final Movie

NEW YORK, New York --

Production has been suspended on Heath Ledger’s final movie, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” following the death of the 28-year-old actor, Variety reports.

Directed by Terry Gilliam, “Imaginarium,” is now faced with the dilemma of replacing Ledger in the role, shooting around him or shutting down the production altogether.

In the film, Christopher Plummer plays the impresario Doctor Parnassus, and Ledger took the role of a mysterious outsider who joins the Doctor's troupe on a quest through parallel worlds to save the doctor’s daughter (Lily Cole) from the clutches of the devil (Tom Waits).

A rep for the film, which was shooting in London and Vancouver, confirmed to Access Hollywood that Ledger had not finished shooting his part.

And while Ledger did finish shooting his part as The Joker for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” the studio is left wondering how to adjust the movie’s marketing campaign, which has been so heavily centered on Ledger’s character.

But as far as “Imaginarium” goes, it’s certainly not the first project to face the dilemma of losing a star before completion.

In 1993, River Phoenix was lined up to co-star in “Interview With the Vampire.” But when he died, producers decided to recast the role and Christian Slater stepped in.

That same year, Brandon Lee was just days away from completing production on “The Crow” when he died during an on-set accident. Director Alex Proyas used a stunt double to complete the final scenes and added Lee’s face using special effects.

Producers of the film “Wagon Train” used several techniques to finish filming after John Candy died of heart failure while on location in Mexico in March 1994.

And before Mike Myers struck gold as the voice of everyone’s favorite big, green ogre, former “SNL” alum Chris Farley was the man DreamWorks had tapped to voice “Shrek.” Myers took over when Farley died from an overdose in 1997.

Copyright 2008 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

• PRINT