Tarkin star wars actor. How Peter Cushing was resurrected for Rogue One

Darth Vader will forever remain in the memory of mankind as the incarnation dark side. Even despite the teen screaming "NOOOOO!" at the end of the third episode. But true Star Wars fans will never forget Grand Moff Tarkin. Chief Vader, grey-faced incarnation military power Empire, embodied on the screen by a British actor Peter Cushing.

Before instilling fear in the eyes of Princess Leia without any Power there, Cushing played a lot iconic roles for studio Hammer. In 1977, he starred in Star Wars only to die with the Death Star at the end. Cushing himself died in 1994 from prostate cancer. And now comes the news that Cushing will be returning for the new Star Wars to reprise his role as Tarkin.

According to a source from the DailyMail, a Tarkin revival may be needed for Rogue One. The spin-off takes place between the third and fourth episodes and tells the story of the abduction of the very plans of the Death Star. It was thanks to the courage of a small detachment of the then-forming Rebels that Luke managed to become a hero of the resistance.

Due to the timing of the action, it became necessary to revive the 81-year-old actor. This will require a lot of effort and hard work CGI experts. " This is the most difficult and expensive CGI renaissance. Cushing is an important part of the plot as he is the one who created Darth Vader and there is a whole backstory that will come out.”, writes DM.

The face shouldn't be a problem. Only this year we saw on the big screen, having thrown off several decades, and flaunting toned buttocks. Prior to this, Oliver Reed, who died during the filming of Gladiator, was revived on a computer, and Laurence Olivier's head flashed in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. With this technology, it will be easy to rejuvenate Carrie Fisher, for the likely appearance of Princess Leia.

Difficulties may arise when recreating the legs.

For the digital renaissance, special effects masters scan and sort through thousands of photographs. All in order to accurately repeat everything with the help of computer graphics. When Lucas was shooting the fourth episode, there was not enough money for proper costumes and equipment. Even the helmets of the stormtroopers were painted badly with cheap paint. Imperial officers got uncomfortable uniforms and ill-fitting boots. On the set, Cushing constantly complained about uncomfortable shoes and, in the end, Lucas gave in and allowed him to shoot in flip-flops. That is why the operator removed it from the knee and above, and in general plans he was always behind the dashboard.

« They go through miles of old horror film footage to properly recreate the movement of the legs and feet., says the source. - It's creepy to see when it's been a long time dead man comes to life on the screen».

On this moment the creators and actors of the new "Star Wars" are trying in every possible way to distance themselves from computer graphics. The first three episodes have aged very badly, and Abrams is trying in every possible way to show that this time everything will be according to the rules, like their ancestors. This is a kind new wave V modern cinema, when CGI is again pushed into the background and used only when absolutely necessary.

Prior to this, filmmakers had already made an attempt to bring Tarkin back to the big screen. So, in the third episode, in the final frames, the Grand Moff appeared on the screen to watch the construction of the brand new Death Star. He looked good, although he left a strange impression. Despite Lucas' love of graphics, he was portrayed by actor Wayne Pygram in makeup to recreate Cushing's famous high cheekbones.

Ultimately, the main thing is that director Gareth Edwards doesn't decide to make Tarkin too big a figure in the spin-off. As we remember, for a five-minute scene with a young Schwarzenegger in Terminator: Genisys, specialists had to sweat for almost a year. But even if they do everything efficiently and quickly - the digital version can only imitate. She will not be able, like a British actor, to convey all the shades and subtleties of the game. So it remains only to wait to see everything with your own eyes.

The plot of the movie "Rogue 1" simply could not do without the sinister Grand Moff Tarkin - the imperial governor who ordered the destruction of the planet Alderaan in the very first episode of Star Wars.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin in Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope" was performed by the now elderly Peter Cushing. At the time of the premiere of Rogue 1, the eminent British actor would have been 103 years old! Unfortunately, Peter died back in 1994 from cancer, and to find a replacement classic look It turned out to be difficult because of the outstanding appearance of the actor. As you might guess, the image of Tarkin in Rogue 1 was recreated using computer graphics, but the extraordinary similarity was achieved thanks to 3D technologies.

Peter's double in the new film was the British actor Guy Henry, who only remotely resembles Cushing. The face of the new actor had to be "remade" to match the more colorful appearance of its predecessor. Special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic was incredibly lucky to find a cast of Cushing's face made for the 1984 film Top Secret.

The miraculously preserved mask was digitized using a NextEngine 3D laser scanner, and the resulting meshes were used to recreate Tarkin's appearance in all its original glory through computer graphics.

Despite the excellent results, there were also critics who pointed to moral side undertakings. Did filmmakers have the right to "reanimate" a long-dead actor? “I don't think we did anything that Peter Cushing would complain about. Work has been done with big love and diligence. We know that Peter was very proud of his participation in Star Wars, which he himself repeatedly spoke about and even regretted that he could not act in other episodes of the saga, since George Lucas “killed” his hero, ”explains John Knoll, head of the special effects department for Rogue One.

By the way, the image of the young Princess Leia Organa was recreated in a similar way, but the performer of the role, Carrie Fisher, who died after the filming of the film, supported the idea with both hands. But the creators are not going to generate a digital double of Carrie for the seventh and eighth episodes of the saga.

” in style is strongly knocked out of the entire Star Wars cycle. It is as realistic as possible and minimally fabulous. Even the very existence of a certain Force that the Jedi use is sometimes questioned here. It was all the more important to bring characters into this world who would remind that this story is still inextricably linked with the Star Wars universe. Especially since the action should move into A New Hope any minute now.

How Guy Henry was turned into Tarkin Peter Cushing, who played Tarkin in the 1977 film, died in 1994. But in order to New film"Rogue One" conveyed the idea put into it as accurately as possible, the creators needed his hero. It was possible, of course, to simply replace the actor, but this reduced the emotional load of the picture. So it was decided to recreate the image as close to the original as possible.

“We only did it because it was necessary. Tarkin was very important to the story we wanted to tell,” says John Knoll, creative director Industrial Light and Magic.

To fulfill the plan, the actor Guy Henry was invited, with a physique, facial expressions and gestures similar to Peter Cushing. He managed to quite accurately reproduce the manners of the British. However, digitization had to take into account several problems. Firstly, there were still slight differences in the facial expressions of the actors. For example, “When Peter Cushing makes the 'aah' sound, he doesn't move his upper lip. He only slightly lowers his lower jaw, and his lips form a rectangular figure, exposing his lower teeth. Such details had to be taken into account when working with graphics.

Secondly, if we use the same lighting for the model as in A New Hope, then the new Tarkin would be more similar to the old one. But in Rogue One, the light is completely different and the character would look unrealistic against the background of other heroes. As a result, I had to sacrifice a little similarity in favor of realism.

It took 18 months to create this image.

Actress Ingvild Deyla in the film and in the life of Princess Leia took away much less strength. But she doesn't have much screen time either. Her main task was to turn around and take over.

“It would be difficult to convey that she had hope without showing her face. So we used special effects to make the moment feel special, and that was the best thing we could have done.” — Keery Hart, Lucasfilm

It would seem that during the filming of The Outcast, Carrie Fisher was still alive and you could call her and apply the same technique of “rejuvenating” the character that was used to embody the 20-year-old Tony Stark in The First Avenger with Robert Downey Jr. or to play with the age of Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. However, as John Knoll says, this technique does have some limitations.

“There is a period of time within which certain technologies can work. After the time has passed, you are no longer the same person: a different voice, a different gait, you hold on differently. We felt that the surest approach to bring back Carrie Fisher at 18 was to invite an actress who is closer to the right age, ”says John Knoll.

Therefore, the aspiring actress Ingvild Dale was invited to the role of the young princess. Like Guy Henry, she had to work in a motion capture mask. "As a Star Wars fan, I am incredibly excited, grateful for the honor of playing Leia and being a part of this beloved and amazing universe," she tweeted on the day of the premiere.

Despite the success of the operation, the now-deceased actress will not be "resurrected" for future films. For the eighth Star Wars, Carrie Fisher managed to play her scenes, but in the ninth she will no longer be.

This reconstruction was noticed only by the most hardcore Star Wars fans. During the space battle, old acquaintances from A New Hope can be seen, known by the codenames Red Leader and Gold Leader. They were cut from footage not included in Lucas' first film.

True, we had to seriously work on the images: some of the materials had insufficient exposure, we had to bring the picture to mind. Plus, the characters were cut out of the frame and placed in the cockpits of fighter jets created already for the Rogue One movie.

The appearance of the late Peter Cushing in Rogue One has become a popular topic. How did it happen, what will it result in and would the actor himself like it?

As soon as there was talk that Governor Tarkin would appear in Rogue One, the Internet was indignant: are they really going to resurrect Peter Cushing? The actor, who is no longer with us for 22 years, received a digital copy, the quality of which is better for the audience to judge.

All this has already been

Hollywood is not the first time resurrects actors. During the filming of Ridley Scott's drama Gladiator, in May 1999, Oliver Reed, who played one of the important roles in the picture. The director decided to finish the scenes with Proximo, Reed's hero, with the help of a doppelgänger and CGI.

The Man Who Wasn't There

Of course, in many respects such a resurrection is based on the need to obtain the approval of the descendants of the actors. And in the case of Cushing, who died in 1994 (the actor's wife died in 1971) and left no descendants, the studio received the go-ahead from former secretary actor Joyce Broughton. She is in charge of Peter Cushing's legacy and after watching the film was extremely moved to see the actor on the big screen.

Supervisor visual effects John Knoll, who came up with the idea for Rogue One, suggested that director Gareth Edwards not take similar actor for the role of Governor Tarkin, and make a digital understudy. Edwards admits that many were nervous about the decision.

As you know, Cushing starred in A New Hope exclusively from the waist up. The actor found the boots incredibly uncomfortable and replaced them with soft slippers. But now Tarkin could be shown in full height. Thanks in large part to British actor Guy Henry. At home, he is well known for the TV series "Holby City".

Rumors of Henry's involvement with Rogue One have been floating around the web for a while now. He was supposed to play a young Tarkin, but no one guessed that the resemblance of Henry and Cushing would become the basis for a computer model of the late artist. Edwards is extremely grateful to the actor who took this step, knowing that his work would be completely erased from the screen.

“Ideally, for such things, you need to work with the actors who played in the original,” says the director. - But given how many years have passed since the release of the first film of the original trilogy, this is impossible. People are already very old, and even motion capture will not work: as we age, we all change body language.

Technologies of all countries, develop

Former visual effects vice chairman Richard Taylor (not to be confused with Lord of the Rings' Richard Taylor) says, "We've been making photorealistic people for movies for quite some time. And now the questions are starting: Can they have agents? Taylor worked on the concept of the original Tron, but long before that he was creating the first computer man for the short film Adam Powers, The Juggler.

Taylor is very enthusiastic about working on Fast and Furious 7, but not very happy about the rejuvenated version of Jeff Bridges' character for Tron: Legacy. However, according to the expert, technologies in this area are developing at the speed of light. Reality has almost come close to the story shown in the film "Congress", where Robin Wright is digitized in order to save a copy of her for filming in other films.

Taylor's current project is new technology virtual reality Eymerce will enable viewers to interact with photorealistic people in real time. Among the partners of Taylor's company is the show "Concerts of Legends" from Las Vegas, where doubles of celebrities perform. Thanks to new technologies, this phenomenon can be brought to new level, while an actor who has studied the body language of a star is able to give a computer simulation credibility with the help of motion capture techniques.

Death is not the end

If a celebrity has already left our world, then her resurrection becomes the subject of conversation for lawyers. The use of the image of the deceased star must be agreed with her descendants.

According to Richard Taylor, now many celebrities are being scanned to provide for their families later, acting in films even after death. “This is useful even in the case of insurance: if someone gets injured on the set, you can not stop the process, but use a digital twin,” says Taylor.

Hollywood is slowly beginning to ask questions about digital copies. Let's say an actor refuses to star in a sequel to a movie. Is it legal to use its digital copy? And if, under the contract, the actress does not want to act naked, is it correct to use a virtual double of her body?

California has a law passed in 1984. It is designed to protect the rights to use the image of the actor after death. According to this ruling, the rights to public use of the image can only be obtained 50 years after the death of the artist. This law came into being after judicial trial with the descendants of Bela Lugosi, who failed to prevent the commercialization of Lugosi's Dracula. Over time, the Actors Guild extended the ban on the use of the likeness of deceased actors to 70 years.

What would Cushing say?

Oddly enough, Peter Cushing would most likely approve of the filmmakers' decision to resurrect his character. The actor had a very philosophical attitude towards death. In many ways, it originates in the childhood of the actor: the mother punished little Peter by pretending to be dead.

When his beloved wife Helen died in 1971, Peter Cushing could not recover for a long time and even thought about committing suicide. But then he decided to plunge headlong into the work, accepting any offers, just to fill the void that appeared after the death of his wife. And Star Wars was one of those works.

While working on the script, George Lucas brought in Governor Tarkin for the sake of a human presence in the Empire, because main villain, Darth Vader, wore a mask. A Hammer movie star, Cushing is accustomed to playing sinister characters, but, according to him, Lucas first offered him the role of Obi-Wan and only after a personal meeting decided that the actor better fit the role of Tarkin. Cushing himself admitted that he would have played Kenobi better, but it did not work out due to lack of time.

Peter Cushing and his compatriot Alec Guinness were the most famous actors. Cushing got along great with everything film crew despite the fact that he was on the site for a very short time. In addition, Darth Vader was played by Cushing's colleague from the Hammer films, David Prawse. The first line of aspiring actress Carrie Fisher in A New Hope was delivered just in the company of Cushing (Princess Leia looks at the destruction of her home planet). Later, the actress admitted that it was difficult to play hatred for Cushing's hero. The actor was a pleasant and sweet gentleman, and besides, he smelled very delicious of "linen and lavender." Mark Hamill did not shoot with Cushing, but was a big fan of the actor and came to the set to replace him to ask for an autograph.

It is known that Peter Cushing liked A New Hope very much. He was even slightly upset that Tarkin died in the finale and would not be able to participate in the sequels. So, most likely, now he would be glad that his character came to life again on the big screen.

On December 15, the new Star Wars will be released on Russian cinema screens - not just another film in the next trilogy, but separate story.

Long time ago, in distant galaxy…we can't wait for the usual rolling credits. Rogue One is not a movie from a trilogy (any trilogy), it's a standalone story - the first, perhaps from a collection of stories that tell about separate episodes that are hardly mentioned in the trilogies.

A New Hope begins with Darth Vader chasing Princess Leia, who has been revealed to have plans for the Death Star, the Empire's new planet-killing superweapon. But how did these plans come to Leia? That's what Rogue One is about.

A new set of heroes - although we will see a few old acquaintances; a new approach to old stories; And, of course, New Hope.

Gareth Edwards, who previously made low-budget Monsters and big-budget Godzilla, is moving in the same wake of war films: these are different aspects of it, but still war. For the entire Star Wars franchise, his Rogue One was the first film to focus specifically on war itself: combat, intelligence, casualties, cost. human life and the price of an idea leading people into battle. Yes, there was a place for the Force, but it is not here - the main driving force(sorry for the tautology); main force is Hope.

Is it a deliberate reference to the films of the Second World War (up to Churchill’s speech “ We will fight them on the beaches" in her visual form- the truth is that they fight on the beaches!) Or unintentional - but this is the first film in the franchise in which the emphasis is on Wars, and not on Star Wars.

We just need one victory, one for all, we will not stand up for the price.

Great movie, watch it, you won't regret it.

We will talk about 11 heroes of the film (although in fact, as in any war film, there are much more heroes) - and how the preparations for the images were going on.

Jyn Erso

Jean is not some girl in distress; Jin is independent, smart, tough and self-confident. Jean grew up in harsh conditions, and from childhood she knew what suffering and constant struggle are.

The daughter of Galen Erso, an Imperial weapon designer, is equally needed by both the Empire and the Alliance - and will hide equally from both until circumstances force her to make a choice.

When it became known that Jean would become the main character of the new film, theories poured out of a cornucopia of who she could be. The mother of one of the heroes of Episode VII - let's say Rey? Someone we know by a different name: maybe Jin is a pseudonym?

It's not that theories don't have a right to exist - but Jean is interesting in and of itself, and not just as a link with the main characters of other films. Jean - brave, desperate, harsh and at the same time very vulnerable - deserves to be interested in her as a person.

Many actresses were on the list of contenders for leading role. At some point, it seemed that it was enough to be an actress over 15 and under 60 to get into the list of contenders compiled by the press for the role. More often than others, the names of Tatiana Maslany ("Dark Child"), Olivia Cooke ("Me, Earl and dying girl"," Weegee: The Devil's Board") and Gina Rodriguez ("Virgin"). But the role went to petite Briton Felicity Jones, an Oscar nominee (Stephen Hawking's Universe).

After the appearance of the first trailer, many saw the similarity of Jean with Katniss Everdeen (severe, dark-haired main character, which rebels against the tyrannical regime), however, believe me, in fact, the similarity is quite superficial. But yes, the girls both there and there had a hard time - Felicity, recalling the shooting, says that it was as if “ spent seven months in the army».

Captain Cassian Andor

Alliance intelligence officer Andor only appears on the screen - and it immediately becomes clear that a person has a goal in life, and this goal is by no means to save every single human life. He is ready to make sacrifices, including human ones, for the sake of the victory of the Alliance. However, he is ready to sacrifice not only others - such work! — but also by yourself, and all in the name of the future.

When the creators announced that Mexican actor Diego Luna would play one of the main roles in the film, they began to wonder who he could play - especially since it was already known that the main role went to Felicity Jones. The Internet agreed that there is Jean - a thief and a criminal, then Cassian can get the job of attracting her to the tasks of the Alliance. Watch the movie and find out if the theorists were right.

Diego says that main feature What attracted him to Cassian was his dedication to ideas and his lack of fear of getting his hands dirty. " Cassian is exactly the hero we all wish we were.", - adds the actor.

Diego Luna says that during filming, he watched Apocalypse of Our Day every month to get in the right mood and maintain this mood. A gloomy mood, I must say.

K-2SO

If Cassian is gloomy main character, the reprogrammed imperial droid K-2SO, who often appeared with him in the frame, is endowed with quite a sense of humor. Yes, the hangman's sense of humor - but still; someone has to joke even in the most deadly situations, since this film did not get optimistic heroes like Han Solo or Poe Dameron?

The two-meter droid is played by Alan Tudyk - he is no stranger to it, in "I, Robot" he already played Sonny, a robot with quite a sense of humor. AND spaceship Tudyk was also in charge, playing Wash, the pilot of Serenity, on Firefly.

Tudyk compared his hero in an interview with an old man - it seems like the behavior of a droid, resulting from reprogramming, is similar to the behavior of an elderly person among young people. We then urgently come up with another robot hero with whom we want to compare the new droid: this, of course, is the melancholic Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Compared to Marvin, however, K-2SO is an optimist among optimists!

Edwards says that " K-2SO is like taking Chewbacca and C-3PO and combining them into one hero».

Chirrut Imwe

Blind Chirrut is like a return to the origins. Since A New Hope was a paraphrase of Akira Kurosawa's film, it's not surprising that its direct prequel also draws inspiration from Eastern cinema. For example, Empire magazine calls Chirrut "Space Zatoichi", and his fighting style is "Power Fu" (similar to kung fu); I would love to see more of this in the Star Wars universe.

Yes, yes, here he is - the bearer of the Force, but at the same time - not a Jedi; Strength has a place in realistic world total war, but it is only an element that gives hope to the heroes, and by no means the main thing in the galaxy.

The Chinese actor Donnie Yen, who plays the role of Chirrut, endowed his hero with not only a desperately charming smile, but also, it seems, the brightest sense of humor in the film.

Baze Malbus

Thanks to Chirrut and Baze, Rogue One got a couple of bickering characters that seem to be quite inspired by the characters in Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress: we mean the peasants Tahei and Matashiti, of course.

Childhood friend Chirrut does not use the Force, but rather ordinary weapons, and assures that it is thanks to his help that the blind monk has not yet fallen in any battle.

Base is played by Chinese actor Jiang Wen. Director Gareth Edward said that Jiang Wen had not seen a single film from the entire franchise - not only until the moment of casting, but still, because Edwards begged the actor not to watch films until the premiere.

Bodhi Rook

An Imperial cargo ship pilot who (a pilot, not a ship!) leaves the service and goes to the rebels - more precisely, to Saw Guerrero. As the paranoid So and his entourage immediately begin to think, this is all a cunning plan of the Empire to infiltrate the rebels; You will see for yourself whether this is true or not.

Riz Ahmed, who has tried on the image of a pilot, has already made himself very loud this year, playing a major role in popular series"One night"; Rogue One will hopefully allow him to cement his reputation as a great actor. Previously, you could see him in the movie "Stringer", where he played along with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Unlike the previous character, Riz Ahmed grew up in Star Wars, and, in his words, " I would be happy to at least serve tea for film set ”, just to be part of the work on the film.

Gareth Edwards says that the character closest to him is Bodhi, because he seems to say all the time in the film, " What's crazy, how did I even get here?».

Principal Orson Krennic

Responsible for the creation of the Death Star, an imperial long-term construction, where taxes from more than one planet have clearly gone, is forced not only to return the fugitive engineer (we were shown this scene even in one of the TV commercials), but also to manage the construction, and somehow try to make sure that larger cones did not appropriate his laurels. In the end, when the Death Star is up and running (spoiler? no, not a spoiler for 39 years), it will have to destroy planets, it's worth a lot.

There were already villains with lightsabers and simply wielding power, and here is a bureaucrat, albeit with practically unlimited (compared to the rebels!) Possibilities.

The role went to Australian Ben Mendelsohn. You may have seen him in supporting roles in in large numbers not the most high-profile (but excellent) projects: from "Casino Robbery" to "Due West"; to his credit and small roles in large paintings- including in films The Dark Knight: The Rebirth of a Legend" and "Australia". This is the same person which you have definitely seen somewhere, and now, I would like to believe, it can be seen more and more.

Edwards says that while " Empire was kind of like the BBC, kind of like Oxbridge, right? And Ben and I wanted to show that Krennic is not someone who has built a career clearly from the bottom, but in what he does, he is extremely effective.

Ben Mendelsohn talks about the same. “Krennic is not one of the Imperial aristocrats, he is a man who has reached his position through his skills. His weapon is an old blaster because he's just an old warrior who's been put in charge of making sure everything is done right. And everything will be done. He's not Darth Vader, he doesn't use the Force; he's just using force."

Galen Erso

In just two months, we've seen Mads Mikkelsen on screen in two of Disney's biggest franchises - first in the Marvel universe (in Doctor Strange) and now in Star Wars. " To be in the same frame with Darth Vader is something incredible, like with James Bond., - says Mikkelsen (yes, he was also in the frame with James Bond, we remember!).

Galen Erso is Jean's father, the same scientist that Director Krennic really wants to get back to work on the Death Star.

Mads Mikkelsen says that " in some places it felt like we were making a small film, very realistic, like the ones I do in Denmark. Gareth is that kind of guy, he needs realism».

So Guerrera

A rebel who even members of the Alliance consider a terrorist; a man who decided to resist the Empire only and exclusively by violence and does not shy away from extreme measures. Saw Guerrera is a legendary figure in the Alliance, and it is he who is the link that will lead Jyn Erso to the rebels.

Saw Guerrero is a character we've already seen in the world of Star Wars, specifically the Clone Wars series. He knew both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi; he's the bridge between the prequel trilogy and the new movie.

Oscar winner Forest Whitaker was Gareth Edwards' first choice for the role, and Whitaker accepted.

Kathleen Kennedy, the film's producer, notes with regret that " didn't manage to use Co as much as we would like". However, even in those few scenes where So is, he will impress you - and be remembered for a long time.

Governor Tarkin

If Saw Guerrera was the link between the prequel trilogy and the new movie, then Governor Tarkin is the bridge between the new movie and A New Hope. Along with another big man in the Empire - namely Darth Vader, who, of course, will also appear, albeit for a short time - he will try to suppress the aggression of the Alliance.

In the original trilogy, Tarkin was played by British horror film legend Peter Cushing; Unfortunately, the actor died in 1994.

We will not show you Tarkin in the new film. Let's just say you'll be surprised.