Fast & Furious 7 may be reshot from zero

The tragic death of actor Paul Walker last Saturday in an unfortunate car crash has put Universal Studios in the uncomfortable position of deciding what to do about the actor’s role in the upcoming Fast & Furious 7.

According to the production notes the $200 million budget movie is more than halfway completed, but many of the scenes involving Walker have not yet been shot. One option is to put another actor in Walker’s role and proceed as nothing happened, but the trusty website The Wrap is announcing that the studio is giving serious consideration about scrapping everything they’ve shot so far and starting the movie again.

Because the studio is insured, the cost of scrapping the production is not a central factor, it’s just a matter of losing time, actually months, to restart a movie from zero.

The dilemma is how to give Walker’s character a proper send-off, if they don’t replace him, and to proceed with the series facing two major character deaths, as Fast & Furious 6 ended with the apparent death in a car crash of another hero.