According to Deadline, Magic City Films has secured the rights from the family of James Dean to use a CGI version of the actor in their upcoming new movie Finding Jack. Finding Jack is directed by Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh, and is an adaptation of Gareth Crocker’s novel, about a man who joins the war effort in Vietnam after losing his family in a car accident.
James Dean will play a character named Rogan in the movie. Ernst explained that after months of searching for an actor who would be suitable for the role, especially since Rogan has “extreme complex character arcs”, they decided on James Dean. Ernst did not elaborate any further as to why only James Dean would be able to play the role. He mentioned that they “will take every precaution to ensure that [Dean’s] legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact.”
This news has been met with mostly negative responses. Chris Evans tweeted about how acts like this diminish the value of a man’s work, and Elijah Wood also joined the discussion, stating: “NOPE. This shouldn’t be a thing.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1192137540842733568
This is not the first time a CGI version of an actor has been used in a film after their passing. After Paul Walker’s passing, they used 350 CGI shots of him, paired with distant shots of his brother, so that they could add him into the last part of Furious 7. This was done in order to complete Walker’s character’s arc, in a movie Walker had chosen to do, while the decision to resurrect James Dean on screen is not something of his choosing.
With advances in film technology, this might sadly become more of a reality in the world of movies.
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