Spoilers for Rogue One follow
I finally saw Rogue One this weekend. (My excuse for waiting so long is the fact that I had a busy holiday although I wanted to see it badly.) I really loved the movie, although the ending gave me the sads and there was one major distraction my son and I noticed – CGI Grand Moff Tarkin, who was made to look like the original Tarkin, played by actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994. They used another actor as stand in and then digitally recreated Cushing’s face. I would have preferred another actor in the role rather than this bizarre homage to the late Cushing, because the character looked like a well rendered game avatar. In fact I wondered if there was some weird backstory I was missing where Tarkin was actually a robot or hologram, but he was supposed to be human and it was as obvious a gaffe as the robot baby in American Sniper. At the end of the film, which you probably know was a sort of prequel in the Star Wars universe, we saw young Princess Leia, also an obvious CGI creation but a more forgivable and brief one, tying in the stories of these martyred rebel heroes with the original Star Wars saga.

Now that we’ve lost our venerable Princess Leia it’s only logical to assume that she’ll be digitally inserted into future Star Wars movies, because you know that they had no qualms about doing just that for a major character in Rogue One. The people at Lucasfilms say that’s not going to happen though, and that although Carrie Fisher loved her CGI character in Rogue One they’re not going to create a whole storyline around her like they did for Tarkin/Peter Cushing. Here’s how John Knoll, chief creative officer at Industrial Light and Magic, explained including Cushing’s face and the moral and ethical issues around that.

“They fear a slippery slope,” Knoll said of the technology’s ethical critics. “‘Well if they’re going to do this now, where’s the end of it? Soon we’re going to have all sorts of dead celebrities endorsing products.’

“I’ll say, well, first of all that’s not what we did. What we had Tarkin doing in this film I think was entirely appropriate narratively for this story, and we weren’t doing anything that I think Peter Cushing would’ve objected to. I think this work was done with a great deal of affection and care. We know that Peter Cushing was very proud of his involvement in Star Wars and has said as much, and that he regretted that he never got a chance to be in another Star Wars film because George [Lucas] had killed off his character.”

“And this was done in consultation and cooperation with his estate. So we wouldn’t do this if the estate had objected or didn’t feel comfortable with this idea.” (Cushing’s former assistant, Joyce Broughton, who now oversees his estate, applauded ILM’s efforts. “It’s not just a silly sort of thing,” she told Variety. “It’s really good.”)

To achieve the effect, Knoll and team cast actor Guy Henry (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) to perform the role on set while where wearing motion-capture equipment, including a helmet-mounted camera that would track facial expressions and vocal movements. They then used visual effects to apply the motion to a digital model they’d constructed of Tarkin/Cushing using photographs and footage of him from A New Hope. “Essentially we’re using the computer graphics as a tool to alter his appearance,” Knoll explained.

[From Yahoo!]

At least they did it in cooperation with his estate and believe he would have approved. It’s still somewhat questionable to me. Imagine if they had digitally recreated Richard Harris as Dumbledore for all future Harry Potter movies instead of hiring actor Michael Gambon. That would have been bizarre, but it’s an issue that is going to come up more often as the technology improves. It’s not quite there yet but at some point we won’t be able to tell the difference.

Here’s more, including Lucasfilm’s statement on Carrie Fisher.

Knoll on Carrie Fisher approving her younger CGI self in Rogue One
“This again is something we wouldn’t have done without her permission and blessing,” Knoll said. “She knew about it. [Lucafilm President] Kathy Kennedy managed the relationship with Carrie, so I didn’t talk with her directly about it. But [Fisher] saw a work in progress, saw a finished result, and she loved it. Kathy called me right after she showed it to [Fisher] and said how fantastic she thought it was. So she was very much in favor of it.”

In related news Friday, Lucasfilm denied a BBC report suggesting the company had already begun negotiating with Fisher’s estate for rights to her digital image for future Star Wars installments. Fisher had completed filming 2017’s Episode VIII and was expected to have a substantial role in 2019’s Episode IX, but Disney and Lucasfilm were scheduled to huddle with filmmakers this week to discuss how to adjust the story following Fisher’s death.

Here’s the complete statement, as posted on StarWars.com:
We don’t normally respond to fan or press speculation, but there is a rumor circulating that we would like to address. We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.

Carrie Fisher was, is, and always will be a part of the Lucasfilm family. She was our princess, our general, and more importantly, our friend. We are still hurting from her loss. We cherish her memory and legacy as Princess Leia, and will always strive to honor everything she gave to Star Wars.

[From Yahoo! and StarWars.com]

Ok so they have “no plans” to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher. That’s not ruling it out, but still it’s better than leaving the rumors out there and making it seem like they’re going to build the story around her, a la Tarkin. I hope they don’t do that again, it really took away from a fantastic movie. Still, it’s not like they can replace her with another actress, that would also be hard to take. Episode VIII, which is out this December and for which Fisher completed all her scenes, is going to be bittersweet.

photos credit: Lucasfilm via Slashfilm, Starwars.Wikia, and Getty Images