Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 21 January 2020
James Dean revival spurs debate

on raising the digital dead

By ANDREW DALTON and images that we do have years later. "The Fast and
MATT KEMP to work with," Cloyd said. the Furious" star Paul Walker
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The "What we typically do is we died in 2013 before shoot-
men bringing James Dean take all those images and ing was done on "Furious
back to life for a forthcom- videos and we run them 7." His two younger brothers
ing film are aiming not just through machine learning and others acted as stand-
to give his digital likeness a to create that asset." ins so his scenes could be
role, but a whole new ca- That will be added to the finished.
reer. work of a stand-in actor us- Even Lennon, and many
This Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, photo shows a bust of actor James Dean's planned appear- ing motion-capture tech- other dead historical fig-
Dean at the Griffith Observatory in the Griffith Park area of Los ance in the Vietnam War nology as commonly done ures, were digitally revived
Angeles. movie "Finding Jack," and now with CGI characters, in 1994 in "Forrest Gump."
Associated Press the possibility of future along with the overdubbed But the technology of rec-
parts, comes as digital voice of another actor. reation and resurrection
de-aging and duplication The announcement of has taken a major leap
of real actors has tipped the role last year caused forward in quality and pres-
from cinematic trick into a quick backlash, with re- tige, with the extensive de-
common practice. And it's sponses like that of "Cap- aging and re-aging used in
giving new life to old argu- tain America" star Chris Martin Scorsese's "The Irish-
ments about the immortal- Evans on Twitter: "Maybe man"; a young Will Smith
ity and dignity of the dead. we can get a computer to digitally returning to play
"Our intentions are to cre- paint us a new Picasso. Or opposite the current ver-
ate the virtual being of write a couple new John sion in last summer's "Gem-
James Dean. That's not only Lennon tunes. The com- ini Man"; and Carrie Fisher,
for one movie, but going to plete lack of understand- whose younger self briefly
be used for many movies ing here is shameful." returned digitally in 2016's
and also gaming and virtu- "I think there's definitely "Star Wars: Rogue One"
al reality," said Travis Cloyd, something cynical and and appeared again after
CEO of Worldwide XR, who what feels like a little bit her death, in "Star Wars: The
is leading the design on the distasteful about bringing Rise of Skywalker."
Dean project. "Our focus especially long-dead ac- These instances have elic-
is on building the ultimate tors back to life," said Terri ited scattered skepticism
James Dean so he can live White, editor-in-chief of — both of the quality of
across any medium." film magazine "Empire." the technology and the
Legally, they have every "The reaction to the likes of propriety of the revivals —
right to do it, via the full the James Dean news has but audiences have largely
agreement of the Dean es- actually shown that I think accepted them.
tate and his surviving rela- most people don't really Guy Williams, visual effects
tives. want that." supervisor at filmmaker Pe-
"Our clients want to protect For the people behind the ter Jackson's Weta Digital,
these valuable intellectual Dean project, the negative said the possibilities do of-
property rights and the reaction is as inevitable as fer a moral dilemma.
memories that they have they believe the eventual "The question isn't so much
of their loved ones," said acceptance will be. Cloyd if you use somebody's like-
Mark Roesler, CEO of CMG foresees a Hollywood ness to bring them back or
Worldwide, the legal and where even living actors to create a digital version
licensing company that have a "digital twin" that of them, it's what you do
has long owned the title to helps in their work. with it and the respect that
Dean's likeness. "We have "This is disruptive technol- you show to it," Williams
to trust them. ... They want ogy," Cloyd said. "Some said. "So that, to me, is the
to see that their loved one's people hear it for the first more important question."
image and memory con- time and they get shaken Pablo Helman, the visual
tinues to live on." by it. But this is where the effects supervisor behind
Dean is an obvious candi- market is going." the de-aging of Robert De
date for revival with his em- The revival of the dead, Niro and others in "The Irish-
bodiment-of-Hollywood im- often done clumsily, has man," said he considers
age and the brevity of his been happening for much that moral dilemma in his
life and career — he died of Hollywood's existence. work.
at 24 and made just three Footage of Bela Lugosi, "The main question that
films: "East of Eden," "Rebel combined with a double you need to ask yourself is
Without a Cause" and "Gi- holding a cape over his why do it?" Helman said.
ant." face, was used in 1959's "You know, just because
Roesler and Cloyd have "Plan 9 From Outer Space," you can do it doesn't mean
not obtained the rights released after the horror you should, you know? That
from Warner Bros. to use star's death. Bruce Lee's would be one thing that I'm
footage from those films, film "Game of Death," left always questioning: Is it in
but they have a large trove unfinished before his 1973 service of the story?"
of photos and Dean's doz- death, was completed "At some point there's go-
ens of TV roles. using doubles and voice ing to be the James Dean
"There are thousands of overdubs and released five biopic," Cloyd said. q