New Star Wars: Rogue One TV Spot Teases a Planet-Shattering Cameo!

jedhaThe latest Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ad – which has arrived just in time for the long-awaited ticket presales to begin – proves to be one of the grittiest in terms of tone, showing off the strength of the Empire and the fear of the Rebels challenging their tyranny. Plus, what appears to be a tease at a long-rumored cameo can be seen in the brief preview (which we won’t spoil until after the jump).

 

 

 

 

 

 

…Did you miss it? We’ve got a screencap of what looks to be the cameo below.

 

tarkin

 

Based on that profile, it looks like we’re going to get an appearance from none other than the Death Star’s commander, Wilhuff Tarkin himself. And Entertainment Weekly confirms that this is the case!

 

Grand Moff Tarkin

 

Tarkin’s presence only makes sense in Rogue One, as the Grand Moff is very much in charge of administration of the Death Star in the Star Wars canon. It has been rumored that the actor portraying Tarkin will not be a lookalike (as was the case with Wayne Pygram’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in one of the final scenes of Revenge Of The Sith), but Peter Cushing’s likeness will instead be replicated via an actor in motion-capture gear. The effect has worked well to portray younger versions of living actors – such as Robert Downey Junior in Captain America: Civil War and Anthony Hopkins in Westworld – but it’ll be interesting to see how the effect will work to portray a celebrity who is no longer with us. Given that Rogue One takes place very shortly before the events of A New Hope, digitally replicating the appearance of Peter Cushing only makes sense to keep in line with existing continuity.

 

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

83 thoughts on “New Star Wars: Rogue One TV Spot Teases a Planet-Shattering Cameo!

  • November 28, 2016 at 11:43 am
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    There are so many iconic looking shots in Rogue One and this is yet another. I am super stoked to be able to see this in a few short weeks…

  • November 28, 2016 at 11:51 am
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    Tarkin was clearly visible in trailer 2… I didn’t realise this was not widely spotted!

    • November 28, 2016 at 2:40 pm
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      But the hair was too dark, this one looks spot on. Maybe they had not rendered it yet for the earlier one.

      • November 28, 2016 at 3:12 pm
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        Righhht. Was unaware there was debate.

    • November 28, 2016 at 2:48 pm
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      I noticed this too. I think I also saw him in the Celebration Reel as well.

      • November 28, 2016 at 3:14 pm
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        Its the scene where officers are gathered, looking out at a DS test.

        Honestly, the time, resources and effort put into that thing… I still can’t believe they didn’t have half the ANH era Imperial fleet escorting it around the galaxy.

        • November 28, 2016 at 3:21 pm
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          Absolutely! I think we’re all in for a treat!

  • November 28, 2016 at 1:18 pm
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    I saw this clip, I think from TED talks, I can’t find it 🙁 but there is this new software, that only needs a few vocal lines from someone and then you can make the voice say anything you like. Would be cool if they use this.

  • November 28, 2016 at 2:14 pm
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    Those shots on Scariff look absolutely amazing.

    • November 28, 2016 at 2:15 pm
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      Gotta love a location scout who can look at Maldives and think… Warzone! 😛

  • November 28, 2016 at 2:49 pm
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    Have to wonder if they’re going to hit us with a young Carrie Fisher too.

    • November 28, 2016 at 6:55 pm
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      That is one of the things I wonder about, too. Modern CGI is probably more than good enough to give us a slightly blurry “hologram Leia” (as if Jimmy Smit’s Bail Organa gives instructions to his daughter). But for any extreme closeups, they should dig up some unused 1977 footage and digitally tweak it. Billie Lourd could do Leia’s voice; her mother’s voice has unfortunately changed significantly (too many deathsticks!)

      • November 28, 2016 at 7:36 pm
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        I’ve heard high praise for the de-aged performances in Ant Man, Civil War & Westworld. I haven’t seen any of those myself but it seems like it might be a realistic possibility. That would be a hell of an ending — whole team is dead, everything looks lost, but then their last transmission containing the plans arrives aboard the Tantive IV.

        • November 28, 2016 at 8:17 pm
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          I have seen, for instance, a failed take of the scene where Tarkin tries to intimidate Leia (“you want another target, a military target?”), but then Peter Cushing botches his line and Carrie Fisher breaks character and smiles. One could digitally extract her from the original scene, edit out Cushing’s arms waving in front of her face and make this the moment Leia triumphantly smiles because the Death Star plans have been safely received on board the Tantive IV. Just one possibility.

          It’s at 0:50 here.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgLl0_mqLtc

  • November 28, 2016 at 2:52 pm
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    Luckily Cushing has a plethora of great performances for reference. This may work out to great effect. Can’t wait to see how it looks and sounds on screen.

  • November 28, 2016 at 3:14 pm
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    As long as he looks better than the garish zombie makeup they had the guy playing him in Ep. 3 wearing.

    • November 28, 2016 at 5:46 pm
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      The first time I saw that I literally thought it was an alien.

    • November 29, 2016 at 12:35 am
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      As much as I agree, if you’ve ever seen Wayne Pigram (or whatever his name is) the make up was actually pretty good.

  • November 28, 2016 at 3:20 pm
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    I wonder if Wihuff was part of Tarkin´s name back then or someone looked to the horizon and invented it many years later, like Sheev and other ridiculous names. I také it as a joke, I don´t need these kind of totally unnecesary details. I´m sure tho (but amused anyway) that to someone this may be important 🙂

    • November 28, 2016 at 3:29 pm
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      It was definitely a later invention. I believe even as recent as Luceno’s Tarkin novel although I may be wrong.

      • November 28, 2016 at 6:11 pm
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        I remember the name from way before the novel, but I don’t know when.

        • November 28, 2016 at 7:38 pm
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          I just checked on Wookiepedia and according to them the name came from Luceno’s Tarkin.

          • November 28, 2016 at 8:02 pm
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            Friends, what I am trying to say is that if I read in Return of the Jedi novelisation back in 83 that the emperor’s name is Palpatine, I had no problem with it years after in the movies. If it was Sheev Palpatine, I would take it naturally as well. But someone felted back then, that Palpatine was enough, that Tarkin was enough and now, when the new authors are cooking a soup from water, they can’t invent quality stuff so they add another name to established characters and for reasons I don’t understand this makes some fans happy. Good for them. To others, is’s just good material for jokes…

          • November 28, 2016 at 8:04 pm
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            That was his first reference as Wilhuff in the new Canon, but he’d been referred to by that name in Legends already. That’s why his Legends page is also titled Wilhuff Tarkin.

          • November 28, 2016 at 8:08 pm
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            Ah. That makes sense. Didn’t realize Wookiepedia had a separate section for Legends.

          • November 28, 2016 at 8:17 pm
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            Yeah, I think it even appears as far back as WEG’s Imperial Sourcebook.

          • November 28, 2016 at 10:41 pm
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            I’m not overly familiar with the West End Games stuff, so I’ll take your word for it.

    • November 28, 2016 at 6:13 pm
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      Wilhuff was Tarkin’s first name as far back as the late 80’s West End Games supplemental materials.

      • November 28, 2016 at 8:20 pm
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        d’oh, missed this. Yeah, I think it appears on the section “The Tarkin Doctrine”

    • November 28, 2016 at 6:47 pm
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      SW names have been weird from the start. So what? U want all earthly names?>

  • November 28, 2016 at 7:01 pm
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    He was a in a previous teaser/trailer with a group of Imperial officers, nice to see this pretty much confirming him.

  • November 28, 2016 at 8:07 pm
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    Ooooooh….ohhhhhhh I really hope this isn’t a thing. Digital de-aging is one thing, but digitally resurrecting actors is entering a creepy and disrespectful territory, and opens up some very uncomfortable ethical questions.

    • November 28, 2016 at 8:09 pm
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      I was thinking the same. Did they seek permission from his estate?

      • November 28, 2016 at 8:14 pm
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        Before posting I was wondering to myself if I would feel differently if they had. I don’t think it matters. There’s a distinct line for me between the estate controlling use of existing performances and authorizing Cushing giving a ‘new’ one, to the point that I think I would have to question the motives of the trustees of the estate if they did. I remember Lucas talking about this years ago – building a library of actors, so John Wayne could be starring in films a hundred years from now – and thinking ‘this is not a good idea’. Are actors artists, engaging in a collaborative process, or are they mere props?

        • November 28, 2016 at 8:22 pm
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          Oh I agree. I’m not sure asking permission from his estate is “sufficient”. I just wonder if they even went that far.

          The whole thing reminds me of season 3 of Bojack Horseman where Bojack is Oscar nominated for a movie where they digitally replaced his entire performance.

        • November 29, 2016 at 4:45 pm
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          More than likely, Lucasfilm got the trustees/family of the Cushing estate’s permission and approval. They were paid.

          If they hadn’t, I imagine the script could have easily been rewritten to remove Tarkin from crossing paths with any of the Rogue One characters.

      • November 29, 2016 at 12:31 am
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        No, they just ignored it and opened themselves up for litigation…

        • November 29, 2016 at 1:00 am
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          Does Cushing have trustees managing his estate?

          • November 29, 2016 at 9:30 am
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            Probably.

          • November 29, 2016 at 8:26 pm
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            Let’s say he does (I don’t know either). ASSUMING his estate is an active concern for someone, that may cover Cushing for a few years. At best, in most of the USA however, an actor’s likeness is only protected for 70 years postmortem, just like any other copyright information (in some jurisdictions there is is NO protection however, but let’s use the best case scenario). That means there is a point at which the estate loses any power, while the studio still has access to the assets they created. You can argue the likelihood, but that does mean that “Harrison Ford”, whether his estate agrees or not, could be acting in Walmart Presents Star Wars Episode 53, Indiana Jones 70 brought to you by CNP, and “Old Dead Movie Star Tentacle Porn III” depending on who pays to use those assets. It means potentially actors can be reduced to digital assets of their appearance, and made to participate in anything a company feels like, or used as the mouthpiece of whoever cash the cash to shell out. I find the implications of starting down this road very disturbing.

    • November 28, 2016 at 9:08 pm
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      I’m pretty sure its the same actor that played him in RotS.

      • November 28, 2016 at 9:37 pm
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        Based on? I mean, I would HOPE they’d opt for someone who bore some resemblance to Cushing rather than go this other route, but since they haven’t even confirmed the character appears….

        • November 28, 2016 at 10:15 pm
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          I thought I saw the guy’s name of a cast list, can’t recall where though to be honest.

      • November 29, 2016 at 12:30 am
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        It’s not.

    • November 28, 2016 at 9:19 pm
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      According to the info I’ve aggregated through SWNN and other sources over the past few months the last I heard was that they were going with a CGI recreation of Cushing’s Tarkin (the upper half of his body) pulled from A New Hope due to the fact that he is essentially the same age in this film based on the timeline. From what I recall the hardest part was in creating his lower half as the deep digging Star Wars nerds will recall that the boots Lucas provided for the Imperials were so ill-fitting and uncomfortable that Cushing refused to wear them on set instead opting for slippers. As such, there are no full body shots of Tarkin walking. If I remember correctly the solution to this problem was to study other Cushing films and figure out his natural gait so that they could fabricate a believable lower half for Tarkin. Of course I’m still not sure if this is in fact the case as I haven’t looked into it in awhile. But if it is… and they pull it off, it’ll be an amazing posthumous performance and an great technological achievement. Either way, can’t wait!

      • November 28, 2016 at 9:35 pm
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        It’s a technological achievement, and one that’s not out of reach by an means – there’s no TECHNOLOGICAL difference between what’s been done in the last few years and what this would be. There is however I think an ENORMOUS ethical gulf between say, Robert Downey Jr giving his okay to have a digital younger RDJ in a film, and Lucasfilm deciding “Hey, fans would sure love to see a Tarkin cameo in our new movie!” and digitally recreating a years and years dead man to act in their little pew-pew film. Don’t be too proud of this technologic terror you’ve constructed. Just because we can do a thing does not mean that we must do a thing. And other cliches, etc, etc.

        • November 29, 2016 at 2:02 am
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          Yep I fully agree with you there chief. I wasn’t really arguing the use of it as much as just presenting what info I had w/ respect to what exactly they may be doing. To me it just seems like an irrelevant piece of fan service that is a waste of money and time. I have to believe its much much easier to simply find an actor that looks similar to Cushing and use a few minor movie magic tricks to aid in the process as opposed to spending days and dollars playing around with stock footage. I mean they clearly had to get a voice actor to do Tarkin, why not just go all the way with the actor. The only justifiable reason I can see for a computer recreation is if its a very quick and minor cameo which I would have believed to be the case up until I finished reading Catalyst. I feel like the relations between Tarkin & Krennic are going to be more direct and physical as the Death Star is nearing completion and I’d find it to be a wasted opportunity to instead cast a great actor who can go toe to toe with Mendelsohn.

          • November 29, 2016 at 3:20 am
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            Absolutely. All else aside, it seems a poor trade-off to forgo a strong actor, free of a gimmicky CGI face plastered over their own, in exchange for some simulacrum that will probably look a lot like Cushing.

    • November 29, 2016 at 12:28 am
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      I don’t remember this outrage when Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow came out…

      • November 29, 2016 at 1:02 am
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        Probably because almost literally nobody saw it. Whose corpse did that film digitally marionette around the screen?

    • November 29, 2016 at 2:30 am
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      To act in a Star Wars movie you must sign over the rights to your likeness as the character concerned. They can market your action figure, they can draw you in comics, and they can make computer models resembling you. Rest assured that Disney/Lucasfilm will be PROFOUNDLY unworried by any “ethical questions” here!

      • November 29, 2016 at 3:05 am
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        Oh, okay, well, if DISNEY isn’t worried by the ethical implications of having dead people act, by definition without their consent, for ever and ever, then there must not be anything to worry about.

        • November 29, 2016 at 3:36 am
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          The actors explicitly signed over the the rights to the likeness of their Star Wars character. (Carrie Fisher has joked about how she owes Lucasfilm money each time she looks in the mirror.) What more is there to say?

          You can discuss ethics until the cows come home, but as for the likeness of these particular characters, it is owned by Lucasfilm.

          And if, say, Daisy Ridley had refused to sign over the rights to her likeness as Rey, they would simply have cast another actress who was more amenable. They want to make action figures, book covers, comics, video game avatars etc. etc., and they will make darn sure the original actor doesn’t make any trouble for them down the road. These are the rules of the game, like them or not.

          In the future, as the use of digital photo-realistic puppets become ever easier and cheaper, one can well imagine that actors will far more jealously guard the rights to their likeness, and that their estates will be “renting” the likeness of especially famous actors to movie companies after the death of the original actor. One could even imagine, say, the older Bo Derek making money on her younger likeness, now for hire!

          In the really long run, movie characters may become far more like characters in comics or novels: they don’t depend on, or imitate, any particular actor at all. They were digital puppets from the beginning, designed for specific movies and (at best) brought to life by anonymous and very much replaceable mo-cap actors. In this way, the studios can be absolutely sure that they fully own the faces that appear in their movies.

          Like it or not, many jobs have been eliminated or become far less lucrative as technology has marched on. The acting profession, as we have known it, may also be affected in the long run.

  • November 28, 2016 at 9:51 pm
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    Does anyone here think that we will one day get Star Wars movies set between eps 6 & 7 that feature (using de-aging technology) the adventures of Luke, Han, & Leia? Or would they just recast the roles?

    • November 28, 2016 at 9:58 pm
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      I think it is entirely possible to do but whether it will be applied to Star Wars, I don’t know. I sure hope so! I’m not a big fan of recasting actors.

    • November 28, 2016 at 10:28 pm
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      I think they’ll stay away from the big three together actually. I think there’s something slightly more palatable about recasting Han Solo (SLIGHTLY I said) in a stand alone, that takes place years away from the trilogy, than there is about recasting all three in an adventure together.

    • November 29, 2016 at 12:14 am
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      They did it for Michael Douglas in ant man so WHY NOT?! Lol

      • November 29, 2016 at 12:55 am
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        For a feature length film? Not likely. Too expensive and not reliable enough yet.

      • November 29, 2016 at 8:44 am
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        Douglas still alive, Cushing isnt.

        • November 29, 2016 at 7:16 pm
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          I wasn’t talking about doing this for Luke, Leia, and Han.

    • November 29, 2016 at 2:23 am
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      “One day” — yes, definitely. I recently looked at some pictures showing how much the face of Lara Croft has evolved over the last 20 years, from a primitive cartoon figure in the games of the 1990s to something that resembles a very good painting today. 15-20 more years will plainly give us virtual photorealism: As far as the visual element is concerned, games will become like interactive movies.

      The time will come when one can motion-capture actors and relatively cheeply have a computer change their appearance, frame by frame, into the likeness of Han, Luke and Leia as seen in the original trilogy. And mark my words, it will be done — well before 2050, I imagine.

      • November 29, 2016 at 3:04 am
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        I think as this becomes a real possibility, the law may actually shift to prevent it. Look at the situation between Louie Prima’s widow and Disney, and that was just over a VOCAL sound-alike.

  • November 29, 2016 at 12:24 am
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    “Planet shattering”? Um no. Not only has this been rumoured for a while, it’s not shattering for the simple reason that the story would be strange without it.

    • November 29, 2016 at 12:44 am
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      We knew that Tarkin will be in Rogue One, but technically this is the first official confirmation. And we just wanted to play it funny with our title. A bit sarcastic and a cool match with Jedha exploding. 🙂

  • November 29, 2016 at 12:45 am
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    IF, they have pulled this off, I’m sure they’ll have been respectful. I think anything less just would not make the cut.
    I a wierd way I’m looking forward to this. There’s the uncanny valley aspect to consider, but with what effects companies have done recently with de-aging and digital recreations. I think this might just work.
    The voice however, remains a seperate issue.

    • November 29, 2016 at 12:59 am
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      “IS there a way to create a brand new performance for a dead actor that doesn’t cross an ethical line?” is the question. Any question of “was it respectfully done” would come AFTER you answer that first big one I think.

    • November 29, 2016 at 2:13 am
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      They had a fairly decent voice actor for Tarkin on Rebels. It could be done.

      • November 29, 2016 at 1:12 pm
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        It was Ok, for animation.
        This has to be perfect and it could be the first time anyone has had a CGI (dead) actor utter new dialog.
        I don’t envy them their jobs.

  • November 29, 2016 at 1:13 am
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    …. but…. but…. we saw Grand Moff Tarkin in the R1 BTS Celebration Reel ?!

    https://youtu.be/HUb_zpdyDpU?t=68

    At 1:08, as the black-clad officer leans forward, the olive-grey officer just behind him turns away, and the physicality screams out Tarkin !!! And equally screams out Wayne Pegrum too !! :o)

    • November 29, 2016 at 2:31 pm
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      Yep, I’ve been saying that for awhile. I agree.

  • November 29, 2016 at 2:30 am
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    Just focus on the part of the name you like. No rule that you have to like every name and all have to be approved by you.

  • November 29, 2016 at 5:39 am
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    I don’t think that doing a digital Tarkin appearance would in any way be “disrespectful” or “unethical”. Making a digital cameo of a major character who’s actor has passed away is no different than putting a pro-wrestler in the Vader suit in place of David Prowse.

    Now just maybe if you were having a major focus on the character, say such as doing a complete Tarkin focused movie by digitally recreating him, and the studio decides that since the character isn’t real that they don’t have to pay royalties to his estate, that could cross the line of what is and is not ethical.

  • November 29, 2016 at 7:00 am
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    I’m H Y P E D.

  • November 29, 2016 at 10:25 am
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    TARKIN > KRENNIC

  • December 2, 2016 at 1:25 pm
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    Yes! Gonna buy my tickets today!

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