Rogue One Team Defends Use of CGI Characters

[Steven Bogos]

Rogue One Team Defends Use of CGI Characters

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1369/1369874.jpg
ILM chief creative officer John Knoll stresses that the CGI characters were done for "very defendable story reasons".

Warning: This story contains light spoilers for Rogue One.

In Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, Grand Moff Tarkin returns to take command of the Death Star, despite original actor Peter Crushing having died over twenty years ago. He, along with a short snippet of a young Princess Leia herself, are brought back to life through the magic of CGI. The use of these two CGI characters (though Tarkin in particular) has been a big point of contention among fans, but now producer Kiri Hart and Industrial Light and Magic creative officer John Knoll have come out to defend the practice.

If he's not in the movie, we're going to have to explain why he's not in the movie," said Hart in an interview with The New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/movies/how-rogue-one-brought-back-grand-moff-tarkin.html]. "This is kind of his thing." Knoll elaborated by stressing that it was "done for very solid and defendable story reasons. This is a character that is very important to telling this kind of story." He added that alternatives, such as having the character appear off-screen, or as a hologram, were discussed, but ultimately unused.

On whether this sort of thing will start to become commonplace (Captain America: Civil War [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrs9UycH0w] also used CGI to make Tony Stark appear much younger in one scene), Knoll does not think so. Creating the CGI Tarkin for Rogue One was incredibly expensive and time-consuming. "We're not planning on doing this digital recreation extensively from now on," he said. "It just made sense for this particular movie."

Personally, I think that CGI Tarkin was the worst part of the whole movie, and that's saying a lot. What did you guys think?

Source: The New York Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/movies/how-rogue-one-brought-back-grand-moff-tarkin.html]

Permalink

 

[Devin Barker]

CGI Tarkin was ok, CGI Leia was actually really good looking (IMO). The movie has issues but this is not one of them.

 

[Igor-Rowan]

I am against it, I know they have good intentions with this, but it sounds good only on paper, when in actuality they are literally showing respect by emulating a performace said actors never made.

 

[Creator002]

I literally didn't even notice that Tarkin was CGI. Don't actually remember him in the movie much. The Leia CGI was magnificent. I didn't think such realistic quality was possible. I'm all for it if it makes sense in-universe.

 

[Fu11Frontal]

I just don't understand why they couldn't recast. I agree that Tarkin did need to come in here, but it's not like my immersion would be irrecoverably shattered by someone else standing in for Cushing.

 

[Jadak]

I had no problem at all with the CGI, but still think it makes more sense to re-cast. If it's incredibly expensive to do, just doesn't seem worthwhile. Pick someone new, people will get used to them, and you don't have to deal with this if you want to use the character again later.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I thought they both looked fine, personally. I was more excited to actually see him on screen one more time.

And isn't it illegal? I'm sure they had Carrie Fisher's consent, but there's no way they had Peter Cushings.

They got the consent from his estate--much like how people need to get consent from Tolkien's estate to do anything with Lord of the Rings. I was watching for it in the end credits, and they mention Peter's estate in the 'Special Thanks' section. Because otherwise, you would be correct, and Disney would be looking at a lawsuit big time.

 

[fix-the-spade]

It looks off, it looked off in this, it looked off in Captain America: The Winter Soldier too when they re-faced Hayley Atwell.

It worked just fine in Civil War, but then that entire scene has a slightly off quality to it. Between the lighting and the slightly soft focus it had a dream-like quality, it didn't look like the 'real' world, so the effect wasn't jarring.

They should have used Tarkin more sparingly, all he needs to do is appear in the background, whisper something into an officer's ear and then the officer advances the plot according to Tarkin's will (no spoilers).

Makes me wonder what they're going to do for Episode 8 now that there's no Princess Leia. The classy thing to do would be to start the movie with some kind of memorial service to her (both in and out of universe), but I doubt Disney is capable of such reverence.

 

[Phoenix1213]

It looks off, it looked off in this, it looked off in Captain America: The Winter Soldier too when they re-faced Hayley Atwell.

It worked just fine in Civil War, but then that entire scene has a slightly off quality to it. Between the lighting and the slightly soft focus it had a dream-like quality, it didn't look like the 'real' world, so the effect wasn't jarring.

They should have used Tarkin more sparingly, all he needs to do is appear in the background, whisper something into an officer's ear and then the officer advances the plot according to Tarkin's will (no spoilers).

Makes me wonder what they're going to do for Episode 8 now that there's no Princess Leia. The classy thing to do would be to start the movie with some kind of memorial service to her (both in and out of universe), but I doubt Disney is capable of such reverence.

I think I heard she already shot all her scenes for 8, so it'd be for 9 if she survived 8, or they may do some reshoots in 8 and try to kill her off.... "respectfully." Like Paul Walker

 

[immortalfrieza]

I had no problem at all with the CGI, but still think it makes more sense to re-cast. If it's incredibly expensive to do, just doesn't seem worthwhile. Pick someone new, people will get used to them, and you don't have to deal with this if you want to use the character again later.

I can't see why people would even need to get used to the new actors. I mean, come on now, Star Wars has been a worldwide phenomenon for over 40 years, it's hard to believe that among all the actors that grew up watching the movies and all the cosplayers they couldn't find someone who looks and sounds so much like Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher that people would never be able to tell the difference. Those actors would probably do it for free or next to it just to actually be in a Star Wars movie too, further cutting costs.

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Tarkin looked excellent. There was no issue at all for me at least. Leia looked like a horrible ghost wearing a human mask though. It's interesting how differently people are looking at this. Some thought Tarkin looked fine and Leia spooky. Some thought Tarkin was weird and Leia great. Some thought both worked, others didn't. On the whole, they should probably lay off the technology for a bit until they have it down a bit more and everyone has a more unified reaction. The division seen in this movie is evidence of that.

 

[Mahorfeus]

I thought they both looked pretty damn good. It didn't really occur to me that it was CGI until I read more into it. On a second watch I'm sure the "fakeness" might be more apparent, but for a first impression, it wasn't bad. As far as I'm concerned, as long as they permission from the actors (or their respective estates), I wouldn't mind seeing this technology put into use more often.

I think it goes without saying that it will only get better, particularly if they invest more and more money into it. Like, I think we're a ways off from having a CGI-enhanced character actually feature prominently. Tarkin and Leia's roles in the movie were, for the most part, pretty passive as far as movement goes.

I'm already wondering if there's going to be a CGI Luke flashback in Episode VIII at this point.

 

[dragongit]

Well, people may need to get used it once more if they need any more scenes with Carrie Fisher.

 

[The Enquirer]

I was somewhat able to pick up on the Tarkin CGI as he looked slightly off in terms of skin coloration (seemed unnatural next to actual human cast members) but they got Peter Cushing's mannerisms as Tarkin down perfectly.

The Leia CGI was fucking fantastic.

And they did need to have those in there for story reasons, and at the end of the day I definitely prefer a good story.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I think they could have saved some grief with Tarkin by having him communicate through the holographic systems they used, that way they could use the grain and flicker that all Star Wars holograms have to help hide the imperfections.

 

[Khymerion]

The big problem with the 'lay off technology till it improves' is that it won't improve unless people continue to push the limits further to keep refining it. It means we have to keep climbing and attacking the uncanny valley till we reach the other side. Till then, we will just endure the Clus, Tarkins, and Leias of the industry (all good pieces of work that were on the better side of the valley) to finally get to the other side...

Otherwise we do nothing with it and it sits at it's current state of development where it is always feeling off or only used in cheap effects. Or wait for video games to keep pushing it and never see a major movie production firm take it seriously.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Tarkin looked excellent. There was no issue at all for me at least. Leia looked like a horrible ghost wearing a human mask though. It's interesting how differently people are looking at this. Some thought Tarkin looked fine and Leia spooky. Some thought Tarkin was weird and Leia great. Some thought both worked, others didn't. On the whole, they should probably lay off the technology for a bit until they have it down a bit more and everyone has a more unified reaction. The division seen in this movie is evidence of that.

yeah completely agree with this, I had to really question myself if tarkin was dead (I thought his actor had died, but never confirmed it myself before) because of how well he blended in with the scene, while the CGI leia stuck out from the background immensily and her *face* looked so fucking fake to me, sweet jesus it stuck out like a sore thumb. (granted I don't care, CGI doesn't bother me really.)

 

[RedDeadFred]

I thought the CGI characters looked great. I saw the movie with my sister and she didn't even know they weren't real actors (she hasn't seen the original trilogy). I'm fine with this practice if it's done this well.