Tributes continue to pour in for Paul Walker, who was killed in a car crash on Saturday. His Fast & Furious co-stars Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Vin Diesel and Tyrese Gibson are among those who have paid tribute to the 40-year-old actor. Universal Studios released a statement saying, "All of us at Universal are heartbroken. Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the Fast and Furious films, and to countless fans". 

Universal has now had to re-organise production of the seventh Fast & Furious: a series which has managed to earn increased critical and commercial success over the last few years. According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Director James Wan and Universal executives held a conference call Sunday morning to discuss the state of the film, whether rewrites would be necessary and how to proceed in a manner that would be respectful to Walker's death." The cast & crew were due to return to work on Sunday, but that has been delayed until today or tomorrow.

The film has been on an 'expedited schedule', meaning that it has been on a fast-tracked production schedule in order to release next July - just over a year after the release of this year's Fast & Furious 6. It now seems likely the release will be delayed, although it's reported that Walker had filmed a majority of his scenes before his death.

There have been several examples of a film's production being disrupted by the death of an actor. Heath Ledger passed away during the production of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Director Terry Gilliam rewrote the script and chose to cast several other actors - Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Johnny Depp - to play Ledger's role for several fantasy scenes that had yet to be filmed. 

Oliver Reed died from a heart attack while working on Gladiator, and computer generated imagery was used to complete scenes he had yet to complete. Similarly, digital effects were used alongside significant rewriting to help finish The Crow following the accidental death of lead actor Brandon Lee on set. Perhaps most infamously, notorious director Ed Wood used a double to replace Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 from Outer Space, having the replacement actor cover his face with a raised cape during every scene.

Image: Paul Walker, Facebook