Remember when The Hunger Games was the biggest film franchise in the universe? It was big enough to attract some serious acting talent, including one of the greatest actors of his generation, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrayed Plutarch Heavensbee in the film franchise. Sadly, Hoffman died of a drug overdose at age 46 halfway through filming the adaptation of the final book in the series.
As reported by The Guardian, because the final two films split the plot of that book into two, Hoffman’s death left gaps in both chapters of the story—including one emotionally vital scene between Heavensbee and the heroine of the story, Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence). While Hoffman had several conversations with the director concerning how to stage and perform the scene, nothing had been filmed.
According to ABC News, the producers never even considered using CGI and other special effects to replace Hoffman (though they used CGI to add a few tweaks where necessary). Instead, they changed scenes so that other characters took on those moments. For the big emotional scene with Katniss, they hit on the idea of having Heavensbee convey his lines to Katniss in the form of a letter, read by another character. This allowed them to keep the emotional tenor and impact of Heavensbee’s lines while respecting the fact that Hoffman had passed on.