James Dean, Dead Since 1955, To Star In New Movie Thanks To CGI

In what's being hailed as a victory for people who loved Rogue One's Grand Moff Tarkin and his wet, dead eyes, The Hollywood Reporter has released an article stating that James Dean will be digitally resurrected for the upcoming Vietnam War drama Finding Jack.

Anton Ernst, who co-directs alongside Tati Golykh, is quoted as saying "We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean." THR reports that the actor will be fully digitally reconstructed, with a voice actor providing his line readings, at least until we find a computer program capable of creating whatever the vocal version of the uncanny valley is.

Dean, the 1950s heartthrob and highway safety enthusiast, has been notably dead for more than 60 years following a severe case of crashing his car on Route 466 in September of 1955. Still, Hollywood has never let a little thing like shuffling one's mortal coil stop them from putting a person in the pictures. In 2006, Superman Returns famously resurrected Marlon Brando to reprise his role as Jor-El. Sir Lawrence Olivier made an appearance in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a full 13 years after his passing, and of course, Disney flexed their ability to spit in the face of mortality when they brought back Peter Cushing for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to mixed audience reception.

Time will tell whether the CGI Dean will pass muster with movie goers. It's a big, expensive gamble, especially considering the way that 2019's Gemini Man ate it at the box office after advertising heavily on the "look what we can make with computers" angle. Meanwhile, reactions from actors have been less than cheery. Chris Evans, sharing the story on social media, tweeted "This is awful. Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso. Or write a couple new John Lennon tunes. The complete lack of understanding here is shameful."