My #IFCRant: Why use Dead Actors?

Ryan M
Ryan M
Nov 6 · 3 min read

So the below came up on Twitter and I wanted to read before I judged, but context did not make it any better…

Ok so here’s the thing, I do like James Dean as an actor. but I have s-e-v-e-r-a-l issues with this idea. I can see doing this if Dean had filmed scenes for a film before his death and someone wanted to finish it with his character and performance in the film. It’s something we’ve done before. It’s why I’m going to be super sad when I see Star Wars (RIP Space Mom). Or if he’d played a character so iconic that we’ve decided it wouldn’t be right for anyone else to play them. That makes some sense to me.

But honestly, the audacity of this is insane to me because it means that the people who proposed this idea had the audacity to essentially assert a few things:

  1. That it’s ok to just casually resurrect someone’s likeness for a film that they have had absolutely no involvement in. James Dean’s estate was contacted I’m sure, but this just is weird to me. Essentially they’re forcibly casting James Dean in their movie, and since there isn't any pre-existing content/context, they’ll also be in 100% control of his performance. I’d feel slightly better about it if maybe it had been a movie Dean was in talks to be a part of? But a quick search of those involved in the movie shows that they most likely all born after Dean’s passing. I just…does anyone feel like this sort of violates a sort of artistic consent? An actor’s likeness and performance are their craft and it feels weird to kind of extract it from them without asking, no?
  2. There are apparently no other living actors on earth right now who could be in this movie? I can’t speak to the time casting takes versus resurrecting someone CGI style, but I feel like out of all the actors (or even just humans)on earth, they could surely find someone who fit the role. I LOVE classic Hollywood film, especially MGM dream factory musicals, but if every new musical movie that came out was still starring a teenaged Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, that would deprive us of so many new and innovative talents. And, just because someone’s good doesn’t mean they’re perfect for every role (except for like Meryl Street).
  3. That it’s totally fine to open a potentially gross can of worms. The company that licensed Dean’s likeness also owns the likenesses of Andre the Giant, Burt Reynolds, Christopher Reeve, Jack Lemmon, Ingrid Bergman, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, David Carradine and on and on. So I’m assuming this is nowhere near the last time this will be done. Plus, the film’s producer, Anton Ernst, said, “our partners in South Africa are very excited about this, as this technology would also be employed down the line to recreate historical icons such as Nelson Mandela to tell stories of cultural heritage significance.” Ok, that is a lot…I don’t know that we ever need to resurrect historic figures for the purposes of the movies. Especially because let's be honest, at least in the U.S. people often don’t dig enough beyond what they see on the surface for their information. What if someone creates a movie featuring Mandela doing/saying things that he either didn’t do, or are disputed? Yeah, some people will know it’s fiction, but those who don’t, or don’t care to look further, may not. And that to me is terrifying because I have heard many stories that people 100% believe are factual that don’t even sound close to the truth, and I’m sure I’ve repeated some myself.

I’m not a total misanthrope, and I did actually think the Tupac “hologram” at Coachella was pretty cool. But, that was during a performance of a song in which he has verses and with people who knew him and had worked with him. Meaning, it felt less sticky in terms of consent to me. It’s not like Snoop Dogg was performing a new song with a holograph-esque projection of Sam Cooke signing brand new lyrics he never actually sang. Basically I don’t like this thing one bit.

Ok, rant over…

here for the liminality of it all

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