2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” featured the return of the memorable Grand Moff Tarkin, who was played by the late Peter Cushing in the original “A New Hope.” Although Cushing died in 1994, “Rogue One” recreated the actor’s face and voice with CGI. However, a lawsuit is questioning Disney’s right to recreate the dead actor.
The “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Lawsuit
As reported by The Independent, Tyburn Film Productions has filed a lawsuit against the company that produced “Rogue One,” Lunak Heavy Industries (UK). Disney had previously acquired permission from Peter Cushing’s estate to use Cushing’s likeness in “Rogue One,” but Tyburn Film Productions claims that the rights didn’t belong with Cushing’s estate in the first place.
The Independent reports that “the company asserts that it entered into a ‘letter agreement’ with Cushing in 1993, which, it claims, prohibited the reproduction of his appearance via special effects without Tyburn’s explicit permission.” Tyburn began its legal action in 2019, and it has now entered the Court of Appeal.
Other Uses of CGI Wizardry on Digital Faces in “Star Wars” and Lucasfilm
Tarkin isn’t the only human “Star Wars” character to be recreated in CGI. “Rogue One” also featured a brief appearance by a CGI Princess Leia with a recreated youthful face. Although Carrie Fisher died just a few days after “Rogue One” was released, she was still alive during the film’s production. Later, both Leia and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker had their young faces recreated for a flashback scene in 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Hamill’s face was also youthened for the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” with his young voice recreated in AI. Similarly, Han Solo’s Harrison Ford got his own de-aging for Lucasfilm’s “Indiana Jones” franchise in its latest entry, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Still, in all these cases, the actors were still alive to give their own consent, while Cushing was not.
The Future of Bringing Back Dead Actors
With CGI and AI technology improving at a rapid rate, it will undoubtedly be tempting to recreate a multitude of dead actors, but the legality and morality of doing so will also come into question. The Tyburn lawsuit likely doesn’t threaten the existence of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” but it will still probably encourage Disney to be careful about who they bring back. Would Cushing have approved of the CGI Tarkin? We can never know for sure.
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