'Resurrecting' actors

[Vince W]

see Johnny Vegas replace Sigorny Weaver in a battle for life and death against the deadly ALIEN

I'd pay a fiver to see that.

 

[WaylanderToo]

well IIRC you'll be able to see Ronnie James Dio performing his greatest hits (in holographic form) sometime next year. Not sure how I feel about that to be honest...

 

[Foxbat]

It isn't A CGI likeness of James Dean in a new film that is being pushed. It is James Dean in a new film

I take your point. But surely that would have to be James DeanTM or it would be dishonest practice

 

[CupofJoe]

I take your point. But surely that would have to be James DeanTM or it would be dishonest practice

Yes, I'm sure there will a copyright sign or an asterix involved.
This is the film industry. They specialise in deception and misdirection!
And I would never suggest that they were EVER Dishonest and did anything underhand...
And on a more factual point. I don't know if you can trade-mark [copyright etc] a likeness of a dead person. I think that is where the lawyers get involved. Lots and lots of lawyers.
If I remember right... A few years ago there was an advert [for chocolate?] where a model's face was enhanced to look more like Audrey Hepburn and the Audrey Hepburn estate was paid off for using music used and not her likeness.

 

[Ursa major]

It's almost as if we've never had ghost writers or those who write while hidden behind the name of fictional authors (such as Carolyn Keene of the Nancy Drew series) or best selling real authors (ones who "write" literally impossibly large numbers of books).


As Stephen Palmer has said, the real problems come when the fully developed techniques used to construct virtual actors are applied outside of the world of entertainment.

 

[WaylanderToo]

James Dean’s family responds to CGI casting backlash as Hollywood weighs in

See what Chris Evans and Elijah Wood have said about the plan to bring James Dean back to life via CGI.

www.syfy.com

had to post the link but I did read one of the funniest things I've read in a long time "James Dean was perhaps the greatest actor of all time" It might be fair to say that he had the potential to be - we'll never know.... or will we

 

[Foxbat]

That's the problem with dying young. It's just not cool living to a ripe old age, continuing to produce good quality work. This world thinks more of those who go out quickly and leaves a body of mediocrity behind that can be distorted and mined for every single penny the estate owners can get from it.

 

[Vladd67]

James Dean’s family responds to CGI casting backlash as Hollywood weighs in

See what Chris Evans and Elijah Wood have said about the plan to bring James Dean back to life via CGI.

www.syfy.com

had to post the link but I did read one of the funniest things I've read in a long time "James Dean was perhaps the greatest actor of all time" It might be fair to say that he had the potential to be - we'll never know.... or will we

With some of these actors you really have to wonder would they be quite so popular if they hadn’t died? Would Heath Ledger’s Joker have received as much acclaim if he hadn’t died when he did?

 

[Ursa major]

And on the top of John's Scalzi's New Books and ARC's blog yesterday:

​

Michael Crichton died in 2008.

Wikipedia describes the book as "a collaboration with CrichtonSun LLC. and author Daniel H. Wilson." At least Wilson's status as a best-selling author in his own write right got his name on the outside of the book.

 

[Foxbat]

I've seen a few books like that and, frankly, I wouldn't buy any of them because I find the presentation (like Usra's example above) misleading.The way a dead author's name is given prominence (somebody who had nothing to do with this particular book) is downright dishonest in my opinion. I'm not a lawyer but I question the ethics of any legal system that allows this.

Same goes for any movie that says 'starring James Dean' rather than saying 'starring a facsimile of James Dean'.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Character turned into personality in the 20th century.
Personality will turn into appearance in the 21st century.
Be afraid.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

People accept computers replacing all kinds of human activities, but they don't seem to realize that computer generated graphics will be able to imitate the finer aspects of human existence. It's one of those things were it is way too late to be careful what you wish for. The medical industry is about get a big shock when automated diagnosis and treatment suggestions becomes automated on a wide spread basis. If it was cheaper and more accurate people would certainly accept it. That is all about machines understanding the workings of our inner bodies. As the details have improved photographic "evidence" has gone from absolute truth to perhaps it could be. But when it comes to machines be able to mimic human emotions, a lot of people think it can't happen. All the big services that use voice ordering are closely monitoring the requests to insure that they can handle any kind of request. So far they are looking at the structure of the sounds. They are recording the inflections and subtle hints and suggestions. They use anthropologists and psychologists to analyze people ordering every common products so that they can better understand the emotional factors that go hand in hand with making decisions. The face recognition software isn't just for identifying people's faces, it is recording the expressions on their faces. All of this information will be used to make acceptable, believable, supposedly understanding fake faces and voices. They won't need to make physical 3D models of human faces, the rendering will be done by video which is a million times easier to manipulate than fake flesh.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

The Chinese are advancing in this as fast as they can. Their stated objective via "Xi Dada" a.k.a. Xi Jinping and his Chinese Dream is to outrank and outperform all other nations.

 

[Ursa major]

Their stated objective via "Xi Dada"

I wonder if they're aware of Dada (aka Dadaism). According to Wiki:

the Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works.

Perhaps the expression, "May you live in interesting times", will be taking on a whole new meaning....

 

[BAYLOR]

The Chinese are advancing in this as fast as they can. Their stated objective via "Xi Dada" a.k.a. Xi Jinping and his Chinese Dream is to outrank and outperform all other nations.

That's the country where the great machine revolt will start.

 

[Rodders]

I remember some time ago that there was a bit of a fuss made as there were plans to "resurrect" Brice Lee for a movie. I'm not sure if it ever happened. Technology has certainly progressed to the point where studios can do this quite easily.

I don't have objection to the likenesses being used enhance, or finish a scene (Leia in Rogue One), or perhaps to finish a movie where the actor has passed before the end of shooting (Brando Lee for the Crow or Oliver Reed in Gladiator). I don't like the idea of studio using an actors likeness to make an entire movie. It seems a bit cheap to me and the actor has no say in whether or not his likeness can be used, so I guess there's a morality issue for me, too.

I wonder what the legal implication of this is? Will new contracts stipulate actors sign away their likeness rights after their deaths? Will actor have a claus in a will to stop studios from using their likeness after they pass.