Rogue One Team Defends Use of CGI Characters

[Chefsbrian]

I went into the movie not knowing they'd CGI'd Leia and Tarkin at all. When Tarkin showed up, my first thought was it just looked like there was an actor wearing a bad prosthetic face. Something about the shaping of it just seemed a bit off to me. I considered that maybe it was CGI, but for the most part it looked realistic enough that I just figured it was a physical prop. Leia, didn't even skip a beat, just straight up thought "Damn, she looks *exactly* like she should, that's amazing".

Maybe its because she got less screen time than Tarkin, but it appeared absolutely flawless to me. when I heard Tarkin was CGI, I was impressed. Then when I heard Leia was CGI, I was straight up baffled.

 

[Frankster]

See I always figured she was lying, which is why Vader gets really shitty with her rather than dismissive: Rogue One just shows how bald-faced the lie was. Personally I'm not opposed to it, because it's honestly fucking hilarious.

I suppose if one sees it like that, then it's a change i can be onboard with too. Unintentional hilarity is the best kind of hilarity.

 

[hermes]

My problem with the CGI characters is not that there are there, but that they are given screen time when they are not needed. It is like they were really proud of fake Leia and fake Tarkin that they put them in close ups and give them lines that were not needed. It was like someone wanted to show off.

Leia could have been on her back, like she was during most of her scene, instead they panned out around her and closed up right in her CGI face to give the final line in the entire movie, like they expected the reveal of a fake Leia would make the audience gasp (nevermind that their presence there makes little to no sense, and they even contradict it during the movie).

There were ways to make Tarkin present without the weird way it was presented; they even admit to some of them: make up, being in the shadows or only showing his back, a hologram, even using a body double like in the last couple Terminator movies... but again, they wanted to show off... give him lines, making closeups (as a way to mirror Leia's appearance, his last closeup is the end of one of the "dramatic scenes"), and using him like another actor in the movie.

 

[Grabehn]

I don't have a problem with CGI-ing some actor into the movie when it's kind of an important part of it and re-casting would make it seem too off.

But I honestly don't get people saying "I barely noticed" when my eyes immediately jump into the character when it appeared and my brain went "THAT LOOKS PLASTIC", but it also seemed weirdly redish and that made him look weirdly older than in the original movie for some reason. With Leia though, that looked fine but with this kind of CGI, the odd facial expressions kicked me out of it right away.

Although, Vader's voice sounding slightly weaker was more of an issue to me than CGI faces, and even more so when I read that it was still James Earl Jones doing it.