Digital resurrection in movies isn't particularly new.

When Oliver Reed died during the filming of Ridley Scott's Gladiator, the director reused footage with the help of CGI to finish out his scenes. More recently, Arnold Schwarzenneger's younger self was digitally interested into Terminator: Genisys for a key scene. There's plenty more examples out there. Long story short - it's been done.

With the flurry of news last week for Star Wars: Rogue One, the rumour mill has kicked up a notch. A report over the weekend suggests that Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin, will play a pivotal role in Star Wars: Rogue One. The film is set before the events of A New Hope, was released back in 1977. Cushing, however, passed away in 1994. There was a small scene in Revenge of the Sith where a younger actor played Tarkin for a few, brief moments. However, if the report is to be believed, Cushing's character will feature more largely in the film.

There's been no official confirmation whether there is correct or not. Moreover, the legality of the situation and how family will react if it's true is also uncertain. JJ Abrams has been quite vocal about the fact that The Force Awakens will have significantly less CGI than the prequel trilogy and the sense is that Rogue One will be much more grimy and realistic than anything we've seen so far in the entire series.

So, does this legit? Not really, if we're honest about it. Although Tarkin is a fantastic character and Cushing's grave visage would suit perfectly with that more sinister world director Gareth Edwards is trying to make, the idea of CGI-created performance doesn't sit well with us. For one, it's a bit unsavoury to resurrect a dead actor and one that was so well-known. Two, anything we've seen of these CGI reconstructions never look right. And three, there's a dearth of actors out there who could very easily play a younger Grand Moff Tarkin.

Off the top our heads? Benedict Cumberbatch. Eddie Redmayne. Tobias Menszies. Any thin English actor who's got a stuffy voice and look mean, basically. There's a better way of doing it than CGI, basically.

Let's hope this isn't true.

 

Via DM.co.uk