10 Actors Who Were Recreated With Special Effects In Movies

1) Brandon Lee – The Crow

Speaking of Bruce Lee, it’s one of Hollywood’s most tragic coincidences that his son, Brandon Lee, also died at the tender age of 28. Lee was in the middle of filming The Crow when a freak accident involving a piece of shrapnel lodged in a prop gun resulted in him being killed on set. In a strange twist of fate, this real-life incident almost exactly mirrors a scene from his father’s final film Game of Death. 

With only eight days of shooting left to complete (with Lee himself only scheduled for three more), director Alex Proyas decided to continue on with the movie. Lee’s stunt double, Chad Stahelski, stood in place of the late actor and top-end CGI was used to plaster a recreation of Lee’s face onto his. Computer graphics company Dream Quest spent a gruelling 600 hours perfecting the process and further trouble came when original distributor Paramount Pictures pulled out due to the negative publicity surrounding the movie. Thankfully, Miramax later snapped up the film.

To Dream Quest’s credit, they did an impressively seamless job. For its time, it was a terrific accomplishment and still holds up to this day.