By Travis Johnson
Reports are flying that Disney is currently negotiating with Carrie Fisher’s estate in order to use her likeness in Star Wars: Episode IX, most likely employing some of the CGI techniques used in Rogue One.
This is, of course, a pretty emotional subject, and the whole thing hinges on a tiny soundbite from the BBC program, Newsnight at the tail of a segment on CGI actors:
“Carrie Fisher died less than a fortnight ago, but in the minds of Disney movie moguls and Star Wars fans, she’s very much alive. And with what might be regarded as unseemly haste, Disney is negotiating with the actor’s estate over her continued appearance in the franchise. If Disney gets the go-ahead, Carrie Fisher will join Peter Cushing, who, last month, fifteen years after his death, played a key role in Rogue One as Grand Moff Tarkin. With computers, anything is possible, but is it desirable? While some living actors are contracting over the use of their image when they die, others, like Robin Williams, who killed himself in 2014, explicitly banned the commercial use of his image until 2039.”
With Fisher’s death such a recent event the whole thing feels rather ghoulish, but such are the demands of big budget filmmaking, where release dates are secured far in advance and key decision need to be set in stone early in the process.
Some outlets are reporting that it’s a done deal, but that’s a big call. This is probably not a decision to be smoothed over by backing up a truckload of money to the Fisher/Reynolds compound, and there are a lot of factors in play, not the least of which is legacy – is Fisher’s memory better served by leaving what could be considered her final work unfinished? That’s a damningly hard question.
