Heath Ledger's Last Film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Continues Shooting

This story @ www.huffingtonpost.com States: The news first broke Friday on insider-y webiste aintitcoolnews.com and today Variety reported on their scoop. Heath Ledger's role in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which was partially filmed at the time of his death, has been recast Despite the tragic death of pic's star Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell have all signed on to play Ledger's character, 'Tony,' in the film.

"Parnassus," which is being produced by William Vince ("Capote"), Amy Gilliam and Samuel Hadida's banner, was shooting in London when Ledger died from an accidental overdose January 22nd.

Ledger's character is transported into three separate dimensions in the fantasy pic; these new worlds, which Ledger accesses via a paranormal mirror, will now be inhabitated by Depp, Law, and Farrell.
I guess this would be much like the idea in ledgers other work "Im not there" the story of Bob Dylan where he and other actors such as Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere all play Bob Dylan at various stages in his life. If this worked for a biography I'm sure they can swing it in a fantasy film i think this is the cooolest idea yet proposed and how cool would it be to have Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp and Chris Plummber all in the same film!!!!!!!!

so i just though tof something. They changed actors half way though the crow. and it did great so yah just a thought

I think they should reshoot the scenes Heath already did with another actor and finish out the film with that actor. Then on the DVD release they can have all the footage Heath edited together for us all to see.... this way we they still honor what Heath brought to the role but also have film that is consistent throughout. In regards to the CGing Heath I have to agree with Phatlightning.

if they are truly pressing forward with the film, they need to hire another person (i.e. depp) to reshoot the scenes, CGing Heath Ledger or hiring a look a like would in my opinion degrade Heath's image, Heath was Heath, not someone else or a god damn computer, put it to bed, let Dark Knight be his last performance, period.

i hope they press forward and try and use heath. this movie sounds interesting and it would be nice to see one more from sir ledger after his role as the joker
r.i.p.

I think they will use CGI in a different way than you are all thinking. They simply hire a look-a-like actor (the closer the look the easier it is), and than use CGI to tweek the facial appearance to look exactly like Ledger. Although I can't think of what movie it was, this has been done before, and no one could tell the difference. That's my guess as to what they'll do.

they probably wont CG it. I mean that makes no sense. just becasue the actor changes the character isnt suppose to, so whether its Heath or MY Depp playing the part the concept should still be the same. The director and everyone dont want to just redo all of Heaths parts because that would be fucked up but they also want to nish the film so everyone will understand when the character changes faces.

totally agree wit "Stuntman Mike". they should pay their dues to ledger and cast some1 else. Depp would b cool.

CGI has certainly come a long way, but it's still got a long way to go before they can really make convincing people. At the moment I'm impressed with films like Beowulf and such, however, there still is that freakish quality whenever a studio tries to imitate real people.

I agree W./"THE JOKER", it would be strange to watch a CGI Heath!

Well Holylwood has been known to do such things, but with "Real" actors not CGI, for example:

The film "Saratoga" from 1937 starred Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, When filming was 90% completed, Harlow collapsed on the set and died about a week later, reportedly of uremic poisoning. MGM wanted to reshoot the movie with Virginia Bruce or Jean Arthur. However, Harlow fans complained, so the remaining scenes were filmed with double Mary Dees, with Paula Winslowe supplying the voice.If you watch this film, and about 30 minutes or so before the end you can tell it's a stand in & no longer Jean Harlow!

I like Kaya Savas' Idea.

CGI Ledger? That's got shit written all over it. I could understand it if he had almost finished the movie besides an end scene or something like that, but the movie wasn't even halfway finished. Not a big fan of Depp, but let him do it.

Yeah, clearly if there is lots of stuff left to be filmed with the character and that character is a lead role then a CGI actor would be no different than watching a video game. I like the idea of using the plot to have the character change appearance and then be portrayed by another actor like the rumored Johnny Depp.

yeah plus to me its kind of dishonoring to the person to cgi them. its just way too weird for me personally

I don't think they should do a cgi Ledger if there is a substantial amount of unrecorded dialogue. At best, a script rewrite might be in order. Oh, shit, STRIKE!

When Oliver Reed died during the filming of Gladiator they resulted to CGI to recreate him for the last scene before his character dies in the film. They even digitally shaved him so that he looked different and to be honest I didn't realize that the first time I saw it.

I remember The Crow. Let's see how they handle this with the latest in movie technology. I'm sure Terry Gilliam wont disappoint us.

i also heard they were also unfortunately considering doing a cgi ledger...i think they need to allow the dark knight be his last film, after all its definitely going to be the biggest role of his career