Remember the moment during Rogue One: A Star Wars Story when you felt pure, unadulterated horror, brutal shivers running down your spine as a flock of geese trampled your grave? Brrrrr, the first time you saw the creepy CG soup that was supposed to represent a reanimated Grand Moff Tarkin. It turns out that some eight years later, a close friend of the late actor Peter Cushing claims his permission should have been obtained and is trying to sue Disney.
Like the British The timesa certain Kevin Francis, is suing Lucasfilm on the grounds that Cushing had agreed with him that no one could recreate the actor’s face without Francis’ permission. Disney had previously tried to dismiss this on the grounds that there was no evidence of “unjust enrichment”, but the High Court in London refused and allowed the case to continue.
Peter Cushing lived a long life until he died in 1994 at the age of 81, leaving behind a legacy of wonderful cinema and radio films. For the British, he and his long-time colleague Christopher Lee are the iconic actors who can be seen in a million wonderfully over-the-top horror films, such as The Satanic Rites of Dracula, The house that dripped bloodand my absolute favorite, Island of Terror*. To star Wars Fans, it’s Moff Tarkin and Count Dooku.
Come Villain Onea movie that everyone seems to really like except me, in it they decided to revive the character of Grand Ol’ Tarkin using Modern Movie Magic. That is, that wretched deepfaking of the uncanny valley horror masks that are the CG faces that haunted the movies of the 2010s. (See also Tron: Legacy.) The recreation of Cushing’s face out of sticky clay was obviously intended to be an entertaining moment for the masses, but instead sent screaming children into rivers.
While the use of dead actors’ faces in films and commercials is often an ethical issue, in this case Kevin Francis seems certain that Disney and Lucasfilm did not have the necessary permissions, because he claims that Cushing specifically asked him and his film production company, Tyburn Film Productions, to protect his image after his death. He also sues, according to The timesthe executors of Cushing’s estate (who are deceased) and Cushing’s former agency, Associated International Management.
Francis, who made horror films with Cushing in the 1970s, says Cushing signed a contract with him in 1993 that did not allow others to use his image without Francis’ permission. He is demanding just under £500,000 from Lucasfilm.
Disney, meanwhile, claims that they didn’t need anyone’s permission because of the contract Cushing signed in 1977. And… well, you can understand why a judge might be interested in taking this to court. Can a contract from the 1970s possibly contain clauses that allow a company to use cutting-edge (if terrible) computer technology to recreate an actor’s face and voice 40 years later? When Cushing’s agent coughed loudly at Disney back then, Villain OneThey paid only £28,000 ($36,600) to gain access to the site.
Disney first tried to dismiss the lawsuit in December, lost, appealed, and lost again this week. So it’s going to court! And it’s likely to be an exciting trial, considering the power imbalance and everyone’s questionable claims about the dead man’s face.
*I can’t help but talk about it a little more Island of TerrorThe 1966 film is set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, where corpses appear without bones in it. It turns out that the cause was some silicate monsters that a certain Dr. Lawrence Phillips accidentally created after his attempt to cure cancer went horribly wrong. He made the mistake of using silicon atoms instead of carbon, so the rest was inevitable.
And as if that wasn’t enough of “saying science terms and hoping no one’s listening,” at one point London pathologist Dr. Brian Stanley (played by Cushing) tries to figure out what might have gone wrong. He reads Phillips’ notes, then looks up in confusion and says, “But look at that protein structure. It’s not adenosine triphosphate!” And if you remember your biology, you hope it isn’t.
You should definitely watch the film at your next opportunity. And if you are not yet convinced, we recommend this scene:
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