Is Disney Already Planning to Bring a CG Leia to the Big Screen for Episode IX?

BBC Newsnight aired last night with a piece about CG characters in movies, including a decent bit about those appearing in Rogue One. In the program, it is revealed that Disney is already in talks with the estate of Carrie Fisher about her continued presence in the Star Wars franchise.

 


Unfortunately, the video is only available to folks in the UK. If you can count yourself among this group, then check out the video here and fast forward to about the 30 minute mark for the pertinent information.

 

If you are unable to watch the video, never fear, here is a quote from the piece confirming that Disney is in talks with Fisher’s estate:

“And if 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…”

 

 

Although I am tempted to jump the gun here, I am reminded that just because they are negotiating with her estate about using her likeness in future films – that doesn’t necessarily mean they will use her as a featured character in the saga ahead. She could be regulated to cameos or holographic appearances. However, if Disney/LFL decides to take this approach, this could mean some pretty significant re-writes as it has already been hinted at by Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow that Leia would have a much larger role in IX.  So what if the creators decide that they want to move forward with the story they had planned? Could the men and women at ILM pull it off? Should they even attempt it?

 

In whatever capacity they intend to utilize her likeness, it seems pretty clear that Disney/LFL is not yet ready to say their last goodbyes to the beloved Princess General. But is it too soon for a CG Leia to hit the big screen in Episode IX? Should the creators take the more subtle approach and write her out of the story, or should they finish the story that they intended to tell from the beginning and allow ILM to really earn that third letter in their name? If they do decide to bring Leia back to life with their magical computer generated sorcery, it will no doubt be the most monumental task ever thrust upon an effects team.  Let us know what you think about this in the comments below.

 

 

Special thanks to our friend Alex Fraser for the heads up.

 

 

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Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

Jordan Pate (Hard Case)

Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.

188 thoughts on “Is Disney Already Planning to Bring a CG Leia to the Big Screen for Episode IX?

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:55 am
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    I am sure absolutely no debate will arise from this issue.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:12 am
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      If the estate (read: Billie Lourd, who has a role in these movies now) says “yes”, then there’s no reason that they shouldn’t have Leia around for Episode IX. As for any movie chronologically set after the movie, I’d draw the line. But she deserves a better send-off than to get the “Poochie died on his way back to his home planet” treatment.

      – Pomojema

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:28 am
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      Heck, that goes for anything in SW.

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:57 am
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    They should go for it! As Kylo Ren’s only surviving parent in the story line, they can’t just kill her off. I also don’t want the original vision for the story of this trilogy to be altered. I want her entire performance for episode 8 to remain intact. And, I want to see the story that they envisioned. If her family is OK with it, so am I. Go for it, Lucasfilm!!!

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:04 am
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      I agree!

      But surely the same effect (probably better) can be achieved by simply re-casting? I say re-cast, get someone looking as close to Leia as possible, and then respectfully move on.

      • January 12, 2017 at 6:30 am
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        Regardless of whether or not they use CGI, if Leia is in the movie, they will need to re-cast her. CGI, of course, is more or less an elaborate way of masking someone’s appearance.

        – Pomojema

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:06 am
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    Go for it. They shouldn’t unnecessarily trim back the story if they have the technology to bring Leia back and if something completely crucial happens.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:23 am
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      While I get the intent with this idea, I respectfully disagree with it. Dying of a broken heart after establishing herself as a Resistance leader? Leia’s not her mother – she’s demonstrably much stronger than that.

      – Pomojema

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:40 am
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        I think the thing to do is either have Hux and/or Snoke kill Leia and have Kylo feel conflicted about it and eventually turn on them, or else make Kylo do it unintentionally, maybe by ordering the destruction of a ship he doesn’t know she’s on, and then he can have some kind of crisis of identity because of it.

        • January 12, 2017 at 5:47 am
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          That’s pretty good idea, but I think she needs to have a couple of minutes of screentime in episode 9 before her death

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:45 am
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        I agree about that, but it was so cheesy in prequels, now they can show it the right way. Also, they need to balance her storyline with reality, that Carrie is no with us anymore, they need to make it not distracting from the movie, and I think this is they way to do it. But I’m not storyteller so I trust them. I am all for CGI Leia, but I’m afraid CGI is not that great for one of the main characters with big screentime. Hope they will prove me wrong

        • January 12, 2017 at 6:27 am
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          Eh I always liked the idea that Ol’ Palpy was the one that killed her through the force..taking away the only thing that would be a distraction for Anakin. What the hell does a droid know about the force? Which is probably why he didn’t know the reason she was dying.

          • January 12, 2017 at 6:33 am
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            I’m more of a fan of the idea that, while her despair didn’t do her any favors, Anakin ended up wounding her in a way that the medical droids couldn’t detect. A classic element of archetypal tragedy is that people suffer because of the fatal flaw of the hero.

            – Pomojema

          • January 12, 2017 at 6:35 am
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            Well damn..That’s even more tragic lol

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:20 pm
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      Nope

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:23 am
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    Who will voice her though? The actress who did on Rebels is awful. Not even in the same league as the Tarkin guy whatsoever.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:55 am
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      Whoever would be playing her under the digital mask. The GOT guy who did the performance capture did the voice of Tarkin, not the guy who plays him on Rebels.

      – Pomojema

      • January 12, 2017 at 10:22 am
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        I hope they don’t go with Cat Taber either. Perfect as Padme but never bought her Leia.

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:04 am
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      Trained voice actors can do amazing things. They will find someone.

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:24 am
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    All ethics aside, I don’t believe the tech will be there just two years from now. Tarkin in R1 was creepy and distracting and was only (just barely) acceptable because he didn’t have much to do besides scowl at Krennic. To use this touch-and-go technique with a character that needs to provide actual emotional resonance seems foolhardy to me.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:27 am
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      Depends on who you talk to. Some said otherwise. And some who didn’t even know he was CGI (The ones that didn’t know how old he would be now and/or didn’t know he passed.)

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:31 am
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        I don’t really care if it fooled anyone else. He took me right out of it and I don’t want a fake Leia doing the same in IX.

        • January 12, 2017 at 5:44 am
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          Like I said, you can’t please everybody with everything. If they got rid of something because a percentage didn’t like it, they’d never do anything in any film.

        • January 12, 2017 at 9:44 pm
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          Recast would be far worse to me.

          • January 14, 2017 at 9:20 pm
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            I wouldn’t like that either. I want them to write her out.

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:33 am
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    Wouldn’t hate it.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:56 am
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      Colin Trevorrow specifically mentioned that his story involved Leia and Luke interacting, so…

      – Pomojema

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:03 am
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      I hope so – but I doubt it. Unless Colin Trevorrow flying to Lucasfilm this week was a “stunt” to hide the fact that she actually dies in Episode 8, to keep it as a surprise.

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:44 am
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    Thinking about it, I think there is now a way in the next two years for the tech to be perfectly right where it needs to be for this film. I think they should limit it to a hologram and then maybe show a CGI sequence of her somewhere in the film, but regulate how much screen time she would get.

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:47 am
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    I really hope they do not change the original script. I prefer that they use CG.

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:02 am
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      Me too. If rumours are correct, Johnson has a touching Luke-Leia moment in VIII, and I would hate to see it get removed.

      • January 12, 2017 at 9:48 am
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        from what I’ve heard Carrie finished all her work on VIII so that moment will most likely still be in there. I also agree with a number of people here don’t sacrifice the story, if her family is okay with it I say do a CG General Leia.

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:02 am
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    I have no problem at all with them re-casting Leia. It depends on the size of her role – it’s obviously substantial in Episode 9, otherwise there would be no dramas from Lucasfilm / Colin Trevorrow.

    But I’d much rather they just re-cast (someone said Sigourney Weaver, which I think would work), and got on with their original plans. I’d hate to see them change the story too much to write her out.

    • January 12, 2017 at 12:34 pm
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      Sigourney Weaver has the height of 1,5 Leia’s 😉

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:22 am
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    It makes sense to at least discuss the possibilities of this. Even if Leia isn’t in episode 9 at all, having the door open to that option is way better than finding out you need it when you can’t have it

    • January 12, 2017 at 10:34 am
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      Really good point, because they have the chance of editing their way out of it in ep. VIII NOW, if they hurry. But they wont have that option in December.

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:54 am
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    Doing 5 mins in a movie is one thing, replacing a significant role with a cgi character, that’s something else…

    • January 12, 2017 at 7:09 am
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      5 minutes of CGI is even too much I think.
      And I don´t see possible using CGI yet a real dramatic acting scene, like a strong arguing, or a moment of desperation, extremely fear or sadness, or a great happiness…
      Or may be they can surprise us.

      • January 12, 2017 at 11:29 am
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        Well they sure did surprise me with Tarkin.

        • January 12, 2017 at 12:32 pm
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          I don’t get the hate for R1 Tarkin.

          Two times have I watched the film in the theater, and both times most people in the audience believed it was a real person, being flabbergasted when told afterwards it was CGI. The looks on their faces were priceless.
          Only the people in the know saw a (fairly convincing) CGI Tarkin.

          • January 12, 2017 at 1:16 pm
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            I was praising the way they did Tarkin, not hating on it.
            By ‘surprise’ I meant a good surprise, I was expecting them to simply have him say one line or have us view him from the back at most, but then he carried complete scenes in a yet unseen manner. I thought it was very, very well done. All the people I’ve been with (I’ve been to Rogue One 3 times, so that’s a few people there) only noticed something slight about Tarkin, but they all thought he was real and were amazed when I told them he was a CGI character.

          • January 12, 2017 at 1:21 pm
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            I was talking about the divisive opinion about the CGI in general. Though by replying to your comment, I understand you took it personally. Didn’t mean to, sorry.

            I’m with you 100%
            Had the same conversation with some people, who gave the same reaction you described.

            Mtfbwy.

          • January 12, 2017 at 6:50 pm
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            I don’t mind CGI, but I’m not particularly fond of CGI replacing real actors for full movies, especially if a particular actor has been attached to a character for 40 years.

    • January 12, 2017 at 7:46 am
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      Yeah, 5 minutes of CGI would be a lot. Considering the mixed reaction to Tarkin in R1, we’re not there yet with the technology.
      I think they have to write her out of Ep9. Since Ep8 filming is done, it could either be to rewrite Ep8 with a death scene for Leia, or save it for early in Ep9. With a little bit of CGI for either case.

      • January 12, 2017 at 11:28 am
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        They don’t have much of a choice at this point, to be fair.
        If her character was so central to the plot of the future films in the trilogy, leaving her out could potentially damage the quality of the story. Besides, we can’t have them killing off Leia off-screen, either.

  • January 12, 2017 at 7:37 am
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    As long as they do it total respect for Carrie Fisher and Leia’s story arc I will be happy. No one can replace Carrie Fisher being Leia. If they recast her I’d be upset.

    • January 12, 2017 at 7:48 am
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      Recasting mid-trilogy would be awful. For all reasons.
      The’ll get a CGI-Leia-ending that will work, but not the full Leia story they wanted (from the rumors that she was to continue to have a big role in Ep9).

  • January 12, 2017 at 7:49 am
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    I’d rather CGI than recast, but I don’t think they will be able to pull off really intricate emotional scenes so if they can’t make it believable then a rewrite is needed, otherwise CGI

  • January 12, 2017 at 7:54 am
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    just do right by carrie.

  • January 12, 2017 at 7:56 am
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    I think the best way to honor her and her character of Leia is to give her the full, intended storyline that she signed off on. Make the most satisfying story decision. We are all talking about the ethics of it, I feel like Carrie Fisher would say “I don’t give a damn if you CGI my final role, just let me wear a bra and don’t stick me in a god awful metal bikini.” She would want the story and her character to be as originally intended. And to be recasted would be too jarring.

    • January 12, 2017 at 11:24 am
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      100% with you. She signed for 3 movies, she was up for more Star Wars and there we go. Also, it’s almost sure they are taking this direction if they can legally pull it. Just looking at John Knoll in R1 interviews: why two CG humans? Well, cause they serve the story. PERIOD. The story is already written. This is about the Skywalkers, and certainly, in a woman-powered era of Star Wars, they were keeping a heroic, epic future for Leia (whatever that means). We are far away of IX. They will take Leia as a huge priority. They have plenty of time ahead to honor Carrie as she deserves. As for the moral side of it: After soap bottles and sexual dolls with her head on shelves, SHE SIGNED UP FOR MORE. I think there’s no doubt Carrie “wouldn’t give a damn”, as you said.

    • January 12, 2017 at 1:02 pm
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      Well, we need to know first just how much of her was to feature in episode 8. Don’t forget that this stuff is expensive to do. If she had many scenes it might be prohibitively expensive, plus someone else would have to play the role and someone impersonating Carrie isn’t the same as a performance from Carrie herself.

      I really have mixed views on it as Episode 9 without her just doesn’t sound right, but I also don’t want something that doesn’t convince. Knowing Guy Henry from other things I was never entirely convinced by Tarkin in Rogue One as I could tell it was Henry’s voice under it all, irrespective of the CG work.

  • January 12, 2017 at 10:33 am
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    First of it’s a shame this even had to be considered. The youngest of the three to die first? Still so disheartening and sad. Life can be so cruel.

    Disney was already wrestling such a dangerous beast with Star Wars. It doesn’t take much to tip the fanbase into full on hatred. They’ve been incredibly lucky to strike a nice balance towards praise so far. I can’t believe they now must face yet another hurdle of this size.

    I don’t envy them at all. A part of me would choose to delay the saga films entirely and massively reshoot and restructure the last two films to downsize her role. Another part of me says that’s so disrespectful to cut out her last role on earth.

    Either way I’d personally grant them all the time they’d need but I know most everyone else probably wouldn’t…

    • January 12, 2017 at 11:19 am
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      SHe didn’t have the healtrhiest lifstyle, it was actually predictable, yet Kathleen Kennedy gave Carrie and Ford a more prominent role than Mark. Truly disgusting especially how he trained and was fit for retaking the role

        • January 12, 2017 at 11:47 am
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          Hey. Still loving Force Awakens or did you come to your senses?

      • January 12, 2017 at 1:24 pm
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        Disgusting? Odd word choice. Clearly they had a story in mind. I mean Ford is out now. Seems like Mark is going to have a very large role from now on. You could argue it was a brave move to minimalize his role in the premiere after 30 years. Besides all his training and getting him fit didn’t go to waste…

        • January 12, 2017 at 6:10 pm
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          It was extremely disrespectul, Luke is the center of the story, he should have had a prominent role in VII and eventually pass it to someone else in VIII, but Disney probabaly made a poll and figured Han Solo was popular so they gave him center stage. And Carrie came back only for the paycheck, probably was on set less than a week. She should have been retconned immediatly as she wasn’t invested in the movie.

          • January 12, 2017 at 8:23 pm
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            The entire point of the movie is… what happened to Luke Skywalker. The entire motivation of most of the forces at play are seeking him. So he was still central to the story. I mean they used him as the big finale without even having to say a word.
            I really think they just got the original three back together to give it an official sequel feel. Ford wasn’t in by some popularity poll. They gave him want he’s wanted for awhile. An out. I believe that’s why it focused on him.

            And again his role is much larger now… I mean he’s going to train Rey. While Ford is done forever. Also technically… he wasn’t the center of the Star Wars story. Anakin was if you go by that whole chosen one thing.
            I just don’t feel anything disgusting or disrespectful has happened. It’s a story… let them tell it. I’d agree if maybe Luke came on screen, slipped on a banana peal and was gone forever after. Then again he could always come back as a Force ghost ranting about the dangers of produce. 😛

          • January 12, 2017 at 9:11 pm
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            The entire point of movie was to shoehorn the new girl, Kathleen Kennedy didn’t even hide her intentions. The only thing she asked Michael Arndt for was a female Jedi story, as dumb as that. Then when he told her that everytime Luke would appear in the story, he would take over the film. That’s why they simply removed him from the film. It should have been about him, there was no other way to start the sequels. The only thing that could have justified his absence was if Mark was either dead or refused to play in the movie. What they have done is absolutely insane, it’s like they tried very hard to make EVERYTHING WRONG

      • January 12, 2017 at 4:25 pm
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        HAHA! What?

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:19 pm
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        Forgive him, father. He knows not what he says.

  • January 12, 2017 at 10:45 am
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    I personally don’t have a problem a CGI Leia, but the media, and fans who feel that this is wrong, will have a field day. Even if her estate agrees to this, it might cause a major problem, even to the point of some boycotting Star Wars, Disney must make the right decision, because if they don’t, this could affect Star Wars films going forward.

    • January 12, 2017 at 11:18 am
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      Disney will probably hold polls to figure this out. They surely don’t want to offend anyone and turn Carrie’s death into a very profitable investment. They don’t want to ruin that opportunity

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:13 pm
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        Disney has already made $41 milion from her death due to an insurance policy

        • January 12, 2017 at 6:12 pm
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          I wonder what was written on the contract

      • January 12, 2017 at 5:19 pm
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        What a moronic suggestion.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:26 am
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    Just make Kylo kill his mother in Ep.8. It’s time to get rid of the old characters anyway and to make room for the new ones.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:28 am
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    Tarkin was already created in CG without Peter Cushing’s approval. The moral debate was over in Lucasfilm before Carrie left us.

    • January 12, 2017 at 2:53 pm
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      His estate is credited in RO, so Disney must have had approval.

      • January 12, 2017 at 4:23 pm
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        Technically, they didn’t have Peter Cushing’s approval, but his estate now makes decisions for him (as he’s dead), so getting approval from his estate is the only thing that’s ethically required, IMO.

        • January 12, 2017 at 8:11 pm
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          According to Wookiepedia, Cushing was very pleased with the one Star Wars movie he was in, and only regretted that his character was killed so that he could not be in any sequels! Perhaps he would have been glad to know that one day, Tarkin would indeed appear in another movie (and if, as I think, the family he left behind received a nice fat check for allowing this, I can’t imagine he would begrudge them that!)

          Also, it has emerged that Carrie Fisher was essentially pleased with her CGI recreation in Rogue One (on Twitter she joked that her dog Gary had heard Rogue One had some of her “best work” in it!) So it would not seem that she was, in principle, opposed to her CGI likeness being used in movies — and again I imagine she would object even less if her surviving family will have some compensation for allowing this. She may be posthumeously helping to support her family indefinitely! I have little doubt that when the technology has finally been perfected and is cheap enough, we will see feature-length movies following the adventures of young Han, Luke and Leia, even if it takes another fifteen or twenty years to get us there.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:31 am
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    There is no “good” or “right” decision about this.
    Leia apparently meant to have a bigger role in ep IX, so what can they do?

    I think the best would be to rewrite her story in ep IX to a minimum extent and give her a worthy couple of minutes with CGI. Recasting would be terrible imo.

  • January 12, 2017 at 12:11 pm
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    If they’re gonna cgi her, then make it a hologram. The tech is simply not good enough yet, it still very much dwells in the uncanny valley.

    • January 12, 2017 at 3:06 pm
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      I’m not even sure this approach worked convincingly for Snoke.

      • January 13, 2017 at 6:51 pm
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        Snoke wasn’t rendered with any hologram scan lines, though.

    • January 13, 2017 at 6:51 pm
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      But it might be good enough by 2019.

  • January 12, 2017 at 1:05 pm
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    They should consider re-casting the role first and see if that works.

    • January 12, 2017 at 1:23 pm
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      Performance-Capture requires recasting in the first place. And honestly, if they’re going to do that, they might as well digitally bring Carrie back for one more adventure instead of trying to apply a bunch of makeup on a look-alike.

      – Pomojema

      • January 12, 2017 at 2:26 pm
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        I would really prefer another legitimately talented actress with a similar look to a slightly fake-looking CGI performance. Although finding a good actress may be even harder than the CGI approach. I can’t think of any working today.

        • January 12, 2017 at 6:20 pm
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          It’ll be especially tough to find one who can actually “be” Carrie in the role. And after all this time and all these films, they can’t just suddenly go a new direction with the role. If they recast, it has to be somebody we can buy as an ersatz Carrie Fisher – and where the hell do you find somebody even close to that?

          IMHO, recasting is the shittier of two profoundly shitty options.

          • January 12, 2017 at 11:31 pm
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            Kate Mulgrew?

    • January 12, 2017 at 3:48 pm
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      You should consider shutting your whore mouth! I need the money pal!!

      • January 12, 2017 at 4:22 pm
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        Look, your worshipfulness, I take orders from just one computer program — Windows 10.

        • January 12, 2017 at 5:14 pm
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          Pure gold, both of you.

      • January 12, 2017 at 8:49 pm
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        Oh, great. Another unfunny parody account.

  • January 12, 2017 at 1:25 pm
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    They aren’t going to recast Carrie Fisher. She is very well known for her role as Princess Leia across the globe and I believer her family know that all too well. Sure it seems in bad taste now, but Carrie is Star Wars and she shouldn’t be written out of the trilogy. And I don’t think Billie or anyone else concerned would want that either. They know how much the fans love both her and Star Wars. I’ll be tearing up regardless. Bring it on.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:18 pm
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      They aren’t recasting Carrie Fisher.
      They would recast Leia.

  • January 12, 2017 at 1:57 pm
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    I agree with Davis – there is no good or right decision to make here. Everyone looses no matter what since what we really want is carrie back.

    However if we where to look at Star Wars and only Star Wars for a moment, the filmmakers also have to take into account what serves the story best. If the alleged confrontation between Leia and Kylo is set in Episode 9, the it serves the story best to somehow make that scene – even if she is CGI. To drop that scene all together could lessen the impact of Kylo’s demise or his redemption – Either way, they are in a tight spot – with this one

    – I have a bad feeling about this one.

  • January 12, 2017 at 2:10 pm
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    Seeing Star Wars on the big screen back in ’77 as a 5 year old, Carrie was my first ever crush. Like most, her recent passing deeply saddened me. The reality that she is no longer around to film scenes for Episode IX is a little depressing. The thought that Leia will now be reduced to CGI fills me with some trepidation.

  • January 12, 2017 at 2:37 pm
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    the only question would be: what about the voice? Tarkin was spot on, but will they be able to recreate her voice or just cut out phrases from …her audio book?!.. might have worked with Alex Guinness’ “Rey!” and “Hope!” at the end of Rogue One, but I’m not sure how imitating her very distinctive voice would work..then again. ROTJ Carrie didn’t sound like ANH Carrie, so it’ll probably be alright…

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:12 pm
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      Tarkin’s voice was spot on? I’m not trolling, I just wanted to be sure that was what you actually meant in your statement. I think that was actually a somewhat poor likeness of his voice to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them adding him to the movie, but I thought the weakest link was definately his voice.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:57 pm
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      Yeah Tarkin’s voice threw me a little at first. It was less noticeable as the film went on.

  • January 12, 2017 at 3:25 pm
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    To those who think that CGI will be up for the challenge in two years, may I remind you that Benjamin Button’s CGI head is 9 years old. As someone who’s worked for the Animation/VFX industry for longer than that, I believe that bringing back Peter Cushing, as difficult as it is, is a much easier task than recreating a believable Carrie Fisher. I still don’t know whether I like the idea or not but I’m pretty sure it will be very far from perfect.

  • January 12, 2017 at 3:46 pm
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    Easy solution….Leia is in ep9 disguised as Boushh throughout

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:04 pm
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    Not Disney. Lucasfilm. Kathleen Kennedy. Bob Iger doesn’t make these decisions. Stop saying “Disney this” and “Disney that”.

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:46 pm
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      YES!! FINALLY.

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:46 pm
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      Its all Disney in the end regardless of what Disney’s production company calls itself.

      • January 12, 2017 at 8:48 pm
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        No, it’s not.

        • January 12, 2017 at 8:52 pm
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          Yes, it is. Lucasfilm is owned by Disney. Therefore it is part of the Disney brand. Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, are all under the parent company of Walt Disney Studios aka Disney.

          • January 12, 2017 at 9:35 pm
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            REALLY? I DIDN’T KNOW! Thanks so much for enlightening me!

            Except here is the thing you might now: Disney largely leaves those companies to run on their own.

            No one says Disney is doing this or that with The Avengers. Because Marvel makes the decisions. Just like Lucasfilm does. Disney can chime in if they want, but their proven model is to let the companies be autonomous.

            Disney isn’t making the decisions, which is what wydok was saying.

          • January 12, 2017 at 11:05 pm
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            I guess if you’re going to be an ass about it, I will too. REALLY? I DIDN’T KNOW! Thanks so much for enlightening me!

            Anyways, it doesn’t matter. They are all Disney. It would be correct to refer to them as Lucasfilm or Disney.

          • January 13, 2017 at 12:23 am
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            Except when referring to the people who actually produce the movies, it wouldn’t.

          • January 13, 2017 at 12:37 am
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            Sure you would. Kathleen Kennedy is a Lucasfilm President and employee of Disney. So you could say Disney produces Star Wars films. And then in an article one could say Disney is negotiating with the Fisher Estate and be accurate. Sure, it could be exclusively Lucasfilm negotiating but Lucasfilm is Disney.

          • January 13, 2017 at 2:33 am
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            whatever makes you happy.

          • January 13, 2017 at 2:44 am
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            It would make me happy if you would let me sit on your face

          • January 13, 2017 at 3:46 am
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            Ok. Cool.

    • January 12, 2017 at 11:31 pm
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      disney had a lot of say over rogue one actually.

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:16 pm
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    No thanks

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:21 pm
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    I would say that Lucasfilm is keeping all their options open. I doubt that the firm decision has been made on what the future of Leia will be. If they think that the right decision is to recreate her with CGI then I’m fine with that.

    You can’t call the whole idea disrespectful if her family is fine with her likeness being used. Carrie would like the character to have a proper conclusion anyway. She wouldn’t want us fans disappointed.

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:30 pm
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    I think, ultimately, it should be up to the family. If they feel comfortable with having a CGI Leia/Carrie Fisher, then the rest of us should be too. If they feel this would not be in the best interest of honoring her legacy then, lucasfilm will have to do some reshoots/rewrites. If they do decide go ahead with CGI Leia, I think they should limit the screen time to just a few scenes. Something like what they did with Tarkin in Rogue One.

  • January 12, 2017 at 4:56 pm
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    No disrespect, but I wouldn’t be concerned with whether featuring a CGI Leia in IX would be “too soon” as we wouldn’t see it until 3 years from now and in the meantime we get Carrie’s farewell performance in VIII. That is a lot of time to heal. The fact that Disney is already talking to her estate about does feel too soon. I’m sure they have a lot to figure out and need to work on it quickly, but couldn’t they have given the family at least a month to mourn the loss of their loved one?

    • January 12, 2017 at 5:49 pm
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      ‘Estate’ could mean attorneys representing the estate…. ?

      • January 12, 2017 at 7:29 pm
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        Very true. We don’t know what stage the talks are in. It probably is just between the attorneys right now. But even those talks require some limited client involvement (e.g., getting consent to have such talks). I’m just saying that if anything falls in to the “too soon” category, it is this reported discussion.

      • January 12, 2017 at 9:47 pm
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        Who have ethical obligations to represent the family.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:15 am
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      Re: “The fact that Disney is already talking to her estate about does feel too soon” / “until 3 years from now” / “meantime”+”VIII”
      Completely disagree.

      They don’t have 3yrs to make decisions.
      They don’t have until AFTER Ep VIII.
      The decisions have to be made immediately (~yesterday). As it’s obvious that the decision can affect EpVIII editing (scenes deleted/added/story for Leia or those she’ll interact with/affect).

      Re: “but couldn’t they have given the family at least a month to mourn the loss of their loved one?”
      There’s no reason to be dramatic about this. I sincerely doubt Disney/LFL has been banging on her daughter’s door & waking her up hounding her over Carrie.
      This is Disney dotting I’s crossing T’s with Fisher’s estate (legal representatives) in relation to anything that was left ambiguous in pre-existing contracts (unlikely)…more likely presenting their ideas/plans & making sure that the family would be happy with it (i.e. if don’t like it=don’t want PR nightmare later).

      This has to happen immediately, as Ep VIII editing/re-shoots/etc, & IX planning/casting, is underway!

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:24 pm
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    It’s nog unlikely that they already have a perfect 3D scan of Carrie for use with special effects. If they do the result could be better than Tarkin

    • January 12, 2017 at 6:15 pm
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      IMHO, the result has to be significantly better than Tarkin in order for it to work.

      I thought they did a brilliant job bringing Tarkin back to life. As I mentioned in my review, I think they got about 95%-97% of the way there. But it’s that extra 3 to 5 percent that is going to make the difference, and that’s going to require a major advancement of the process.

      Two things I noticed about Tarkin. First, his eyes still looked lifeless. I don’t know how you fix that, but in Leia’s case it’s vital that they do so. So much of her character – so much of HER – is in Carrie’s eyes. If they don’t get that right, the effect is just going to be creepy. (It’s going to be a hard sell even in the best case scenario.)

      The other thing that I felt didn’t quite work with the Tarkin sculpt was the mouth movements. ILM will need to do a LOT of study of the tiny, nuanced little muscle movements common to the human mouth in general, and then specifically those that Carrie had. This is almost as important to a believable CGI facial sculpt as is putting life into the eyes. The state of the art isn’t quite there yet, and if they’re going to put Leia into Episode IX via CGI, they’re going to need to get the state of the art there somehow.

    • January 12, 2017 at 9:46 pm
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      Well they did have a scan of a life-cast made of Cushing’s face for a 1979 film.

  • January 12, 2017 at 5:35 pm
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    Paying for her likeness is fine.

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:03 pm
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    Basically, this all comes down to choosing the least terrible of the available options. There really isn’t a good, satisfying way for LFL to proceed here and I think everyone involved knows that. We lost somebody who meant a lot to us (even those of us who never got to meet her) and on top of that she was part way through filming a multiple-film story arc that evidently was supposed to focus quite heavily on her character. No matter what course LFL decides to take, the next two saga films will be less than what they were intended to have been due to Carrie’s passing.

    Episode IX is clearly going to have to be rewritten to some extent to reduce or eliminate Leia’s part, and it’s also very possible that Rian Johnson is going to have to make some changes to Episode VIII to make room for whatever ends up needing to happen with Leia in IX. I don’t envy anyone the task of having to do that.

    For the as-yet unfilmed IX scenes that continue to feature Leia following the rewrite, assuming there are any, they’re going to have to choose between recasting ((which would not go over well at all – I can’t imagine anyone being able to believably play Carrie Fisher’s portrayal of Leia) or else using a CGI replacement (and that will also leave a bad taste in many fans’ mouths, on top of which, the decent job they did with Tarkin aside, they’re going to have to make an evolutionary leap with the current state of CGI sculpting in order to make it work with Leia for more than just a quick drop-in shot or two).

    Or, they just end up writing Leia out of IX altogether, which of course we don’t know that they can even do. If VIII sets her up to play a major role in IX, that’s going to be a storytelling nightmare to justify dropping her. I suspect they probably won’t be going this direction with it.

    Which leaves two very unfortunate options.

    Between recasting the role for IX and doing a CGI replacement, I’d personally have to come down on the side of massively refining the CGI process they used for Rogue One, paring Leia’s role down as small as they can get away with, and giving it a shot. It sucks, but IMHO it doesn’t suck quite as badly (though it’s close) as if they “pulled a Darren” on us and just put a new actress in the role.

    Bottom line, though, is that we lost Carrie and in the process we lost Leia as well. There simply isn’t an available solution that’s going to change that, or that’s not going to make us feel hinky about Leia’s appearance in Episode IX.

    • January 12, 2017 at 7:06 pm
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      Great post. You really capture the intricacies of the dilemma that Lucasfilm faces going forward.

    • January 12, 2017 at 9:11 pm
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      I would like to see her have some short appearances in 9 with her last scene being a hologram just like she first appeared to us.

      • January 12, 2017 at 9:38 pm
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        I really like the hologram “bookend” idea. ;^)

      • January 13, 2017 at 12:07 am
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        Re: “like she first appeared to us”

        It’s interesting that now with Rogue One, future generations watching the SW movies in some *order* – the 1st appearance of Leia might actually be CGI. Also a potential future *bookend* appearance.

    • January 12, 2017 at 9:45 pm
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      Let’s be together on one thing since no consensus will ever really occur on the CGI vs. Other Alternative here:

      We’ll never truly lose Carrie or Leia – they’ve been too important in our lives.

      And, Carrie would poke fun at anything they could possibly do, and so should we.

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:36 pm
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    yep…do the cgi. best option!!!

  • January 12, 2017 at 6:47 pm
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    With Episode VIII releasing this year they need to decide what will be included in that film and what they will do with IX pretty quickly. Makes sense Disney would be negotiating with the Fischer estate already. They need to have that option available if they choose to use it and can’t save negotiating for the last minute. So no need to rush to judgement because this doesn’t mean a decision has been made on how to proceed.

  • January 12, 2017 at 7:53 pm
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    Don’t cut out any of her footage from 8, cg her in for 9. Tarkin was ok but not good enough, the lips moved like they where elasticated and slightly out of sync. They really need to go all out if they choose to use cg. Recasting is rediculous, i hope they dont. writing her out is a shame. CG is the one imo.

    • January 12, 2017 at 8:26 pm
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      And remember that post-production for E9 is a few years away. That’s a long time in terms of how much this sort of technology will mature and develop.

      • January 12, 2017 at 9:12 pm
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        I think the right sfx team with ocd levels of attention to detail, throwing the kitchen sink at the cg with large budget and plenty of time can pull something convincing off. Anything less is not good enough, the current quality we have seen in movies has not been good enough. If they really want to honor Carrie, they need to make this really really good on all fronts.

        • January 12, 2017 at 9:37 pm
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          Tarkin was pretty darn good in Rogue One. In fact, for how large his role was, I’d say he was good enough. Plenty of folks that had no idea if the actor was still alive or not seemed to think his shots were comprised from old, unused ANH footage. We know better, so we’re more attuned to looking for flaws. But as I said before, with how good Tarkin was in Rogue One and given three years of tech development, I think they could really pull this off. I don’t think she needs a big role in the film, but having a CGI Leia in a few scenes is well within reach.

  • January 12, 2017 at 8:02 pm
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    I vote to CGI her. If they can do it a tad bit better than Rogue One, I am all for it. Hopefully her trust will see it the same way. *fingers crossed*

    I would have thought Disney would have had something like this in place for ALL the actors needed for the trilogy. Makes no sense that a company of that magnitude(see what I did there?) would not have covered their ass.

    • January 12, 2017 at 8:25 pm
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      I bet you’re right. Likeness rights are a big part of entertainment contracts.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:00 pm
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    bad taste ……. sod the fans ,sod the film . give people time to notice shes gone before raping her memory for money.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:01 am
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      Re: “give people time” …”before raping her memory for money”

      Just curious…
      How much time is appropriate to pass before raping begins?

      • January 13, 2017 at 1:50 am
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        if you insist it must happen , then its up to you to choose …. how much time would you need to grieve your mothers passing., my comment simply acknowledges the fact that fans and money makers will ensure it happens anyway …. ….. personally , shes dead , let her die.

        • January 13, 2017 at 2:09 am
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          Re: “if you insist it must happen”
          I didn’t insist on anything.
          You’d suggested “give time” so I was questioning how much was appropriate before the raping of her memory proceeds.

          Re: “how much time would you need to grieve your mothers passing”
          No offence, but that’s hardly comparable:
          1) Carrie’s not my mother
          2) My mom’s not a famous Hollywood actress/beloved star of movies
          3) We don’t know how Carrie’s family feels about the character, nor Carrie’s wishes for the character continuing

          Re: “personally , shes dead , let her die.”
          We have to deal with reality here. There are (at least) 2x more main SW stories coming out with EpVIII & IX. Carrie’s already filmed her VIII scenes.
          What are you suggesting – they don’t release the movie?
          That they just awkwardly drop her from IX without continuity (/kill offscreen)?

          Where do you draw these lines – actor is dead, so character dies?
          Alec Guinness died but we got Ewan playing his character. Then we got his voice in TFA.
          How about Peter Cushing? Did you feel the same way about them using him in Rogue One (independent of how well the f/x turned out)?

          This should go without saying, that yes this is a horrible tragedy that we’ve
          lost Carrie & I understand the call for dignity/respect. That this should all be handled with: desire of Carrie/her
          family taken into consideration, respect & care… is a given.

          But just saying “she’s dead, let her die” is an impractical simplification of the situation.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:00 pm
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    Dependant on the plot of episode 8 maybe they could shift some of Carrie’s part into episode 9…then you could blend her actual performance with cgi elememts. I remember recently Adam driver beeing cryptic about whether Kylo Ren survives episode 8. It could be Leia confronts Kylo kills him and turns to the dark side off the force leaving it to luke to redeem her in 9.. (Big guesswork here) but ultimatley as others have said Carrie’s family should be left to grieve for a time..

    • January 12, 2017 at 10:51 pm
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      More likely in a moment of crisis she calls to Kylo Ben through the force and he saves her, redeems himself partially, but ends up in a mess. Rey on the other hand would not look out of place as a sith witch.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:32 pm
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    Completely up to the family. If rumors that Carrie FIsher LOVED being brought back for Rogue One are true, and her family doesn’t mind, then go for it. If they are uncomfortable, write her out. Just don’t do a complete re-cast.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:46 am
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      Carrie literally SQUEELED with glee when she saw her Rogue One scene.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:32 pm
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    I vote to CGI her. Leia / Carrie Fisher DESERVES to be a monumental part of this Trilogy. Writing her out is DISMISSIVE of both the character of Leia *AND* the actress Carrie that was so PASSIONATE for these new films. Also, we the fans DESERVE to see the FULL story that was planned. I don’t want so BS “whoops Leia’s spaceship crashed” in Ep 9 — I want the Story the FANS deserve and the Story that Leia / Carrie so RIGHTFULLY deserves. If I were the Carrie’s son, I would GREENLIGHT her CGI into Ep 9 in a hearbeat. No hesitation.

    • January 13, 2017 at 1:27 am
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      “If I were Carrie’s son, I would GREENLIGHT her CGI into Ep 9 in a heartbeat. No hesitation.” Well you are not her son, you are a fan so your judgment is askew.

      • January 13, 2017 at 7:46 am
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        My Dad is dead. If Disney wants to CGI him into a Film – I would sign YES immediately. *MIC DROP*

        • January 13, 2017 at 2:12 pm
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          I never said anything about your dad. I said you are not Carrie Fishers son and you cannot presume to apply your situation to his.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:41 pm
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    Carrie’s death illustrates why they made a huge mustake focusing on new characters only in Ep. 7. If Luke and Her didn’t make it on screen together in Ep. 8, then Disney deservestons of scorn.

    • January 13, 2017 at 4:29 am
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      This is ridiculous.

    • January 13, 2017 at 7:45 am
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      I do agree. If there is no Luke / Leia reunion in Ep 8, an amazing opportunity was LOST forever.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:48 pm
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    *queue Yoda quote about attachment

    • January 13, 2017 at 5:33 pm
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      except Yoda was wrong though.

      • January 14, 2017 at 5:45 am
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        I would say the Jedi dogma was wrong, Yoda was right with big caveat.

  • January 12, 2017 at 9:49 pm
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    For the sake of completing the story of Episode IX then, yes, go for it. Do it respectfully (like Lucasfilm wouldn’t) but then retire the character. That’s how I feel.

  • January 12, 2017 at 10:42 pm
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    Personally I think at least partial recast would be best. Both cgi and recasting are about generating a believable likeness.

    I thought Tarkin was great incidentally. Just sometimes I felt his body movements and head seemed disociated. But I think the scenes worked because they were relatively stoic. If you have action and dialog then cgi might be difficult. I would imagine any kylo and leia reunion or confrontation would be rather emotional one way or the other. Maybe not easy for cgi. In any case, it would be a shame not to complete the story of this character.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:35 pm
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    i just don’t see how you could recast now, i just can’t. i mean how much of a kerfuffle have we had over han solo and harrison is still alive. i can’t imagine seeing another person playing leia in this trilogy. maybe in the future, but the wound is too raw right now. either cg or nothing.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:58 pm
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    Everyone talks about how great the Leia scene is and what a surprise it was. The first time I saw the movie it was cute but little more than novelty. What they did with Tarkin was more authentic in the film. Then after she passed, and another viewing last week I simply couldn’t even watch this scene. Walked right out after Vader waxed the floor with the Rebel troopers. Sorry Disney, way too soon. Just write her out of the movie or take an extra year to put out 8 and write out her storyline. Its not difficult to do. Then we can debate the what-ifs and what-have-yous along with Lucas’ original ST ideas for the next 20 years.

  • January 12, 2017 at 11:59 pm
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    It’s hard to say but I want her to have a ending to her story. Han went out with a bang and so should she. I’m really gonna devastated when Luke dies. If he dies

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:04 am
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      Exactly and if that means that we need someone else to step into the role for that happen, then they gotta do it. The CGI just isn’t there yet.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:35 am
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      luke can stick around as a force ghost at least.

  • January 13, 2017 at 12:20 am
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    My *hope* is that we’ll get:
    1) As much Leia as possible – that any changes required don’t wind up giving us less, due to possibly eliminating her (sooner?)
    2) Maybe even utilize some un-used EpVII in VIII & VIII in IX?
    3) Leverage unused scenes/rehearsals/etc to enhance any CGI that winds up being required

    Honestly hope that they can continue the character’s involvement in the story “as planned” (as possible) & give the Princess the finish in the storyline she deserves. Hopefully the CGI or combo of CGI+outtakes/del scenes (/Tarkin’ized actress) will do the role justice.

    What I really don’t want:
    1) less Leia
    2) character killed (more or less) *offscreen*

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:43 am
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      I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING DOUG SAID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • January 13, 2017 at 12:35 am
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    A stupid idea to give her a big role in the upcoming episodes. It will hammer the budget, not look real, and just cause a ton of bitching. Just reduce the role and do any speaking parts by hologram, to hide the CG fakeness.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:44 am
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      No. We want LEIA. 100%. Not a “hologram” for 30 seconds. This Trilogy is ALSO her story and will remain that.

    • January 13, 2017 at 12:52 am
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      disney had the cash to make a cg tarkin, they make a cg carrie too.

      • January 13, 2017 at 2:38 am
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        they have enough cash and time to do it better than tarkin.

    • January 13, 2017 at 4:43 am
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      They can recast. Skywalkers have suffered irreversible physical damages before…

  • January 13, 2017 at 12:42 am
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    I can’t imagine what larger role Leia would possibly play in ep 9. Unless by ‘larger’ they mean 15 minutes rather than 5, as in The Force Awakens. In which case what were they going to do? She’s essentially a base commander.

  • January 13, 2017 at 2:58 am
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    No. Don’t do it. Everyone will know that she is fake since her death is so recent. It will distract from the movie. Also, let’ snot forget the effect CGI characters could have on movies and actors in the long run. In brief, if dead people are revived via CGI to fill a lot of roles, they are in essence taking work away from alive actors.

    • January 13, 2017 at 4:28 am
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      It’s far too expensive and time intensive to do this all the time.

      • January 13, 2017 at 5:07 am
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        Exactly. In the interviews where they talked about Tarkin, they made it clear that it was done with the Cushing estate’s approval and that the weren’t planning on making a habit out of doing this. This isn’t going to turn Hollywood into an overly-elaborate “Weekend At Bernie’s” affair.

        – Pomojema

  • January 13, 2017 at 6:40 pm
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    Hopefully not.

  • January 13, 2017 at 7:44 pm
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    Make her get some facial injuries at the end of VIII and she is back in IX with a different look / different actress. Problem solved

  • January 13, 2017 at 11:15 pm
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    What if we take different suggestions from different people:
    Use unused scenes from ep. VII and VIII for her facial expression.
    Then they could paste her expression on another actress who does the voice/body, and even the lips so then don’t have to do a lot of CGI.
    Mr.Man Suggested Kate Mulgrew as a replacement actress, I think It would be a good choice, as her mouth and voices are similar to Carrie’s.

  • January 14, 2017 at 6:08 am
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    This CG trend is disgusting.

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