Rouge One: A Star Wars Story is one of the better-received projects in the Disney era. In an effort to connect to the original trilogy, it featured the return of Grand Moff Tarkin, originally portrayed by Peter Cushing. However, Disney now finds itself in hot water.
In an article posted by The Times, Disney is currently being sued by one of Cushing’s oldest friends, filmmaker Kevin Francis, due to an agreement made to not allow digital manipulation to recreate his appearance. While Disney tried to have the case dismissed for “unjust enrichment,” the court dismissed the claim.
The basis of the claim comes from a signed agreement between Francis and Cushing regarding a television film titled A Heritage of Horror, which Cushing worked on. He passed away before the film was complete, but an agreement was signed that wouldn’t allow Cushing’s likeness to be digitally recreated to finish off the film, nor to be used in future cameos.
Related: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Is Disney Doing the Right Thing the Wrong Way
While the act of using CGI to bring a character back for a cameo in a film or show, such as Luke Skywalker’s appearances in The Mandalorian Season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+ and Princess Leia’s cameo in Rogue One, is pretty common, it appears that the Cushing Estate and Francis were adamant about not allowing his likeness to be used without their explicit permission.
It is unclear why this issue took nearly eight years to finally come to light, but it will be interesting to see how things play out. Of course, this news comes just days after the unfortunate passing of long-time Star Wars voice actor James Earl Jones, who lent his voice to make another iconic villain, Darth Vader, come to life.
Published: Sep 11, 2024 12:16 pm