Francis Lawrence: 'No CGI to complete Hoffman's Hunger Games scenes'

Director Francis Lawrence has decided against using computer-generated imagery (CGI) to complete Philip Seymour Hoffman's scenes in The Hunger Games sequels following his death in February (14).

The Capote actor died from a drug overdose after shooting the bulk of his scenes for the franchise's next instalments, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Parts 1 & 2, in which he plays head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, and filmmaker Lawrence reveals he has decided to rework his outstanding scenes for his castmates Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks instead of attempting to recast his role or use technology to fill in for the late star.

Speaking at the Cannes International Film Festival in France, where he was promoting The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 on Saturday (17May14), Lawrence said, "We finished the majority of his work. I think he might have had eight to 10 days left on our schedule. In most of those scenes, Phil didn't have any dialogue.

"We are going to put him into those scenes, but we're only using real footage. We're not creating anything digital or a robotic version of him."

He added to Reuters, "There were a couple of scenes that were pretty substantial which we ended up giving to other actors to take over, and obviously although no-one is a replacement for Phil, the story still works."

The Hunger Games franchise also stars actress Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore.