Actors seek posthumous protections after big-screen resurrections
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK, (Reuters) - The death of actor Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in “Star Wars,” set off waves of remembrance among fans - but also speculation over her character’s return in yet-to-befilmed episodes.
Filmmakers are tapping advances in digital technology to resurrect characters after a performer dies, most notably in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The film, in theaters now, features the return of Grand Moff Tarkin, originally played by a long-dead actor.
The trend has sent Hollywood actors in the here-andnow scrambling to exert control over how their characters and images are portrayed in the hereafter.
“Celebrities are increasingly involved in making plans to protect their intellectual property rights,” said Mark Roesler, an attorney and chairman of CMG Worldwide, an agency representing celebrity estates. “They understand that their legacy will continue beyond their lifetime.”
Roesler said at least 25 of his clients are engaged in actively negotiating the use of their or their loved ones’ computer-generated images in movies, television or commercials. Employment contracts govern how they can be used in a particular film or commercial, while a performer’s will can address broader issues.
Some actors or heirs worry that overexposure will tarnish a celebrity’s image, Roesler said. Some explicitly rule out posthumous depictions involving sex or violence, while others focus on drugs or alcohol.
“We have seen people address marijuana,” he said. “We’ve seen liquor addressed.”
California law already gives heirs control over actors’ posthumous profits by requiring their permission for any of use of their likeness. As technology has improved, many living actors there are more focused on steering their legacy with stipulations on how their images are used - or by forbidding their use.
Robin Williams, who committed suicide in 2014, banned any use of his image for commercial means until 2039, according to court documents. He also blocked anyone from digitally inserting him into a movie or TV scene or using a hologram, as was done with rapper Tupac Shakur at Southern California’s Coachella music festival in 2012 - 16 years after his murder.
Virtual characters have been used when an actor dies in the middle of a film production, as when Universal Pictures combined CGI and previous footage for Paul Walker’s role in 2015’s “Furious 7” after Walker’s 2013 death in a car crash.
But “Rogue One” broke new ground by giving a significant supporting role to a dead star. A digital embodiment of British actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, reprised his role from the original 1977 “Star Wars” film as Tarkin.
Walt Disney Co recreated Tarkin with a mix of visual effects and a different actor.
A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Princess Leia would appear in films beyond “Episode VIII,” set for release in 2017. Fisher had wrapped filming for the next “Star Wars” episode before she died. She suffered a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles.
Fisher had been expected to play a key role in the ninth installment of the sci-fi saga, due for release in 2019.
Fisher’s attorney, Frederick Bimbler, did not return requests for information on any stipulations the actress may have made about use of her image.
Disney bought “Star Wars” producer Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion. The two new films since released have sold some $2.7 billion worth of tickets and boosted sales of toys and other related merchandise.
Disney would need to negotiate “re-use fees” with Fisher’s estate to resurrect her character for future films, said Mark Litwak, an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles.
The rights of actors’ heirs are rooted in a 1985 California law requiring filmmakers to obtain permission from a celebrity’s estate to use his or her image after death. The law was enacted after a campaign by the son of Dracula actor Bela Lugosi, a lawyer who objected to widespread use of his late father’s image.
With today’s movie technology opening up so many possible scenarios, actors’ union SAG-AFTRA is lobbying for all states to enact protections on the use of celebrity images after they die.
Minnesota began considering such legislation this year following the death of music legend Prince, who was from Minneapolis. LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - Stage, screen and television actress Viola Davis yesterday received the 2,596th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Oscarnominated actress was visibly moved by the honour at the unveiling.
“The only thing I could think of is the little girl from Central Falls,” said Davis, continuing, “She was always kind of in the background. But inside she had big dreams bursting and the only thing I could think about is that saying, what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Meryl Streep, Davis’ costar from “Doubt” for which she received an Oscar nomination, said, “Viola Davis is possessed. She’s possessed of a blazing, incandescent talent ... She’s a gift to writers. She plants herself in a scene where she has no words and she writes paragraphs with her eyes.”
Last month, Davis received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress for her turn in “Fences” a role that garnered her a Tony in 2010, and is expected to earn her a third Academy Award nomination when they are announced on Jan. 24.
Her previous Oscar nods were for her work in 2011’s “The Help” and 2008’s “Doubt”. NEW YORK, (Reuters) Young Indian film star Sunny Pawar of the biographical drama “Lion” appears to have caught the acting bug.
“Yes, lots and lots!” the 8-year-old, who has just finished his second film, said when asked if he would like to do more acting. Pawar made his acting debut in “Lion”, which is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his family at the age of five when he accidentally boarded the wrong train in rural India.
Unable to remember his hometown or his mother’s name, Saroo is placed in an orphanage, adopted by an Australian family and taken to live in the southern island state of Tasmania. He uses the Google Earth map tool more than 20 years later to try to find his home in India.
Pawar filmed the movie alongside Nicole Kidman when he was just six and bonded closely with actor Dev Patel, who plays Saroo for the second half of the film.
“We talked and played and then we became friends”, he said.