10 Actors Who Appeared In Movies By Trickery

7. Oliver Reed - Gladiator

Veteran actor Oliver Reed died of a heart attack a month before principal photography on Ridley Scott's Gladiator was completed, leaving several scenes unfinished and Scott forced to improvise a solution.

Scott ultimately decided that though Reed's character Antonius Proximo was originally written to survive, it would be easier to kill him off, and did so by creating two new minutes of footage with the help of cutting-edge visual effects to the tune of $3.2 million.

The new ending for Proximo was shot with a body double, around which a digital mask of Reed's face was wrapped. These scenes were also shot in low-light conditions, making it easier for the VFX team to disguise the seams.

And though the CGI is noticeable if you're looking for it, it's ultimately employed with admirable subtlety and meshes surprisingly well with the in-camera footage. Given that complex actor replacement CGI was still in its infancy in 2000, it's ludicrously impressive.

It was convincing enough that many viewers didn't even notice, nor did it stop the film from winning five Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects).