NBC: George Lucas Wants to Resuscitate Dead Actors Using Computers

[JMS]

Just when you think you've heard of everything.... You hear something new and unexpected.

George Lucas Wants to Resuscitate Dead Actors Using Computers

From the horrible ideas department comes the news from George Lucas that he's buying "the film rights to dead actors." You know, so he can resurrect them virtually for upcoming movies. Oh, come on, George.

Yes, there may someday be yet another Star Wars reissue, but this time with Alec Guinness referencing Facebook to Luke. You know, so a new generation of kids will be able to "get it!"

Look for actors to start laying out their film rights in their wills to prevent this from happening pretty much ASAP. Because when you're dead, you don't have the power to say no to George Lucas.

The Sun via Gizmodo

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/George-Lucas-Wants-to-Resuscitate-Dead-Actors-Using-Computers-111400864.html?dr

[HighOnHendrix]

I have been expecting this for twenty years. The technology to do it, I mean. I was looking forward to more Star Trek movies with the original cast after they were too old/dead to play the parts anymore. Not sure it's a good idea at this point. Definitely a bad idea in the hands of Lucas.

[scruffylookin]

Why do I have a bad feeling that Indiana Jones will continue in the future with a cg River Phoenix in the title role?

Don't do it George. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.

[thebluefood]

Resurrecting dead actors: kinda creepy, but kind of awesome

Resurrecting dead actors and George Lucas is behind it: destined to fail.

[laurent]

Yeah, that's exactly what we need. Recycled actors in recycled movies. Burn Hollywood burn, your lack of creativity sickens me.

[GhostofSparta]

If this was anybody but Lucas, I'd be all for this. But how many corpses does Lucas have to violently desecrate before he's got enough freaking money?

[Larry]

Well, now, this is the logical endpoint of the trend for films to replace acting with special effects.

[thebluefood]

Well, now, this is the logical endpoint of the trend for films to replace acting with special effects.

Guess so.

You pretty much suck, Hollywood.

[FanboyOf91]

As long as he resuscitates dead directors (like Irvin Kershner) to direct them, I'm fine with it.

[GhostofSparta]

Ok, so my big question....assuming you do manage to "ressurect" the dead actor visually....how do you make a new movie using any lines at all? Do you have impersonators (Darrel Hammond, Frank Caliendo, etc.) reading the lines in the actor's voice, or do you go all Matt and Trey in "The Return of Chef" and just splice different lines together and hope it doesn't sound like ****?

Here's an example, even tho Matt and Trey went the "sounds like ****" route on purpose: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155183/first-taste-of-new-chef

[Larry]

I hear he's gonna get James Earl Jones to do Humphrey Bogart's voice.

[mardi gras skin]

[thebluefood]

I hear he's gonna get James Earl Jones to do Humphrey Bogart's voice.

---------- Post added December-8th-2010 at 06:43 PM ----------

Missa in Mista Lucas' mowwwvviieee!!]

Nooooooooo! NO! OH, LORD! NO! KILL IT WITH FIRE!

[Burgold]

They've been talking about this for so long... ever since re-doing those Fred Astaire bits in the commercials. I think it's a terrible idea as we lose the craft of the actor. Sure, you get that familiar face, but it's often what's going on internally that makes a great actor great. Still, it'll be easy as hell to use computer modeling to make these animated actors say or do anything and look realistic.

[Larry]

[Devil's Advocate]

OTOH, how different is this from the thing I've been seeing in literature for a decade. The trend of

Dead Author's

MOST

FAMOUS

CREATION

by

No-name Ghostwriter

[GhostofSparta]

[Devil's Advocate]

OTOH, how different is this from the thing I've been seeing in literature for a decade. The trend of

Dead Author's

MOST

FAMOUS

CREATION

by

No-name Ghostwriter

How is that different from TuPac and Biggie coming out with 27 records after they had been dead for half a decade?

_CNs3PR-4ec

[Burgold]

I think it's quite different... as those are reinvisionings of a classic tale or an extrapolation on what happened before or after a popular tale. Adaptation is a valid artform and a good adaptation can provide insight or be reworked to have more meaning to a new generation. See West Side Story versus Romeo and Juliet. Very different, but yet Bernstiens and Sondheims work is just an ode to Shakespeare.

What Lucas is suggesting is just a new form of animation to exploit a popular face.

[Larry]

What Lucas is suggesting is just a new form of animation to exploit a popular face.

And you think this isn't exploiting a popular name?

[Burgold]

Oh, maybe I misunderstood what you are pointing at. I thought you were talking about the thousandth remake of Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood or the Wizard of Oz.

That's a different type of exploitation... though I have to admit I have a soft spot for the guy who's taken Robert Jordan's notes and is trying to wrap up his Wheel of Time series.

Mixed feeling on that. On the one hand, it's a little sleazy. On the other, I always kind of liked it when they said, after a Batman movie... based on the character written by Bob Kane. There's a part of me that appreciates the fact that progenitor of those stories continues to get their due.

[Larry]

No, that's what I was referring to.

Famous, successful, rich author dies.

Heirs then take all the notes they can find in his office, all the stories that the old guy had started, and rejected, and sells the notes, the characters, she universe, and the dead author's name, to somebody else, so we can make some cash from the dead guy's name before the value goes down.

(Or at least, that's the way I imagine things.)

The biggest print on the cover of that book, is the name of a person who didn't consent to his name being there.

[Burgold]

Of course, I should point out that this is an ironic concern coming from a Star Trek fan.... how many Star Trek spinoffs and novels by different authors have capitalized off its branding?

[Larry]

Of course, I should point out that this is an ironic concern coming from a Star Trek fan.... how many Star Trek spinoffs and novels by different authors have capitalized off its branding?

None of them had Gene Roddenberry's name as the largest print on the cover.

And, either

1) He didn't own the rights to Star Trek, because he sold them. Or

2) He consented to, and profited from, the spinoffs.

Edit:

I don't have a problem with somebody, say, Lucas, making a sequel to Casablanca. Find whoever has the rights, pay them a fee, and start writing. (Knowing Lucas, it would probably be Casablanca, Part 1, and it would tell us why Sam isn't allowed to play "As Time Goes By.")

But, putting Bogart in the movie, now that's an attempt by other people, to profit from Bogart's reputation and name, without his consent.

Edit 2, OT:

The themes in this thread: Dead actors, Casablanca, Bogart, Star Trek. Are reminding me of a scene in one of my favorite Trek books, How Much For Just The Planet?.

There's a scene in the book which takes place on a golf course. After the 9th hole, the golf course has a small pub.

A small wooden sign outside the pub displayed images of an elderly, sad-looking human, in some kind of historical costume, and a sculpture of some kind of bird, carved from a black, glass-like, substance.

"The Birdie and the Bogey", the sign read.

[Burgold]

Oh, I pretty much agree. I'm just having fun being difficult.

I do think that as an artist, I deserve both credit and a piece of the pie. That's one of the scariest things about this internet universe we live in. Intellectual property theft is incredibly common and almost no one even has qualms about doing it. How many of us cut and paste copy written materials or images? How many illegally download songs or videos?

So, I hope that the publisher is paying the estate of Roddenberry or Ludlam or even compensating living artists like Stan Lee for the use of their creations. I hope that the artist isn't getting abused and ripped off as usually or so often happens.

I do think though when you see STAR TREK or SUPERMAN that branding links you to a creative mind that deserves honor, credit, and perhaps money. Afterall, if Baum hadn't written about it no one would know that we're not in Kansas anymore.

[HighOnHendrix]

Nooooooooo! NO! OH, LORD! NO! KILL IT WITH FIRE!

[fullnelson9999]

Complain all you want. There's no stopping them...