Summary
Rogue One: AStar WarsStory controversially brought back Grand Moff Tarkin with a CGI recreation of the late Peter Cushing, a move that has tarnished what is otherwise a beloved film. Eight years later, his friend Kevin Francis is suing Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm for using Cushing’s likeness, claiming that the entertainment conglomerate never had permission.
As reported byThe Times(viaIGN), Francis claims that he and Cushing made an agreement a year prior to his death in 1994 in which he would have to authorise the use of Cushing’s image. Lucasfilm argued that it did not need permission due to Cushing’s original contract for A New Hope in an attempt to have the case dismissed for a second time.
Tarkin was recast for Revenge of the Sith in 2005 where he was played by Wayne Pygram.
But on September 9, deputy High Court judge Tom Mitcheson dismissed the appeal and stated that the case should go to trial. “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out,” Mitcheson said. “In an area of developing law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries might lie in the absence of a full factual enquiry.”
Cushing Isn’t The Only Actor To Be Brought Back Post-Mortem
In what is becoming a worrying trend in film, especially legacy sequels, late actors are being brought back via CGI and deepfake technology. Much like AI, this is mostly new territory, and so the rules are still being made. But on a whole, the response has been unease as we venture too far into the uncanny valley.
Among the earliest and most notable examples are Paul Walker in Furious 7 and select Brandon Lee scenes in The Crow. Star Wars also brought back Carrie Fisher shortly after her death in Episode 9: Rise of the Skywalker for a flashback sequence in which Leia Organa trained with her brother Luke Skywalker as a Jedi.
The now-late James Earl Jonesgave permission prior to his death for Disney to use AI to continue voicing Darth Vader, despite the numerous recasts over the decades.
Recently, Ghostbusters: Afterlife brought back Harold Ramis, The Flash brought back Christopher Reeve, andAlien: Romulus brought back Ian Holm. With more and more legacy sequels underway, this trend will no doubt only continue.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Cast
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story follows Jyn Erso, who teams up with the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Death Star. It is set just before the original movie, Star Wars: A New Hope.
