HOW WAS TARKIN BROUGHT BACK TO STAR WARS *SPOILERS*

In an interview with The New York Times, Lucasfilm has explained the reasons behind the decision to bring back faces from the past into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, along with the technology that made the feat possible.

A word of warning that there are spoilers ahead, so for those who have not yet watched Rogue One, you might not want to continue reading.

Making a new “Star Wars” movie can be like gaining access to a toy collection that has been amassed over four decades. For the creators of “Rogue One,” a film designed as a narrative lead-in to the original “Star Wars,” it was a chance to play with characters, vehicles and locations sacred to this series.

But as they revisited the 1977 George Lucas movie that started the “Star Wars” franchise, and gave fresh screen time to some lesser-known heroes and villains, the staffs of Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic faced artistic and technological hurdles: most prominently, using a combination of live action and digital effects to bring back the character Grand Moff Tarkin. This nefarious ally of Darth Vader and commander of the Death Star was played by Peter Cushing, the horror-film actor, who died in 1994.

In doing so, they also waded into a postmodern debate about the ethics of prolonging the life span of a character and his likeness beyond that of the actor who originated the role. The effects experts and storytellers behind “Rogue One” (which was directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy) say they have given careful thought to these issues and were guided by their reverence for this interstellar epic.

“A lot of us got into the industry because of ‘Star Wars,’ and we all have this love of the original source material,” said John Knoll, the chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic and a visual effects supervisor on “Rogue One” who shares story credit on the film with Gary Whitta. In his view, the character effects are “in the spirit of what a lot of ‘Star Wars’ has done in the past.”

Some vintage “Rogue One” characters were easier to conjure than others. General Dodonna, a rebel officer from the original “Star Wars” was simply recast; he was played by Alex McCrindle in the first film and Ian McElhinney in the new one. Tarkin presented considerably greater difficulties, but the filmmakers said it would be just as hard to omit him from a narrative that prominently features the fearsome Death Star — the battle station he refuses to evacuate amid the rebels’ all-out assault in “Star Wars.”

“If he’s not in the movie, we’re going to have to explain why he’s not in the movie,” said Kiri Hart, a Lucasfilm story development executive and “Rogue One” co-producer. “This is kind of his thing.” For principal photography, the filmmakers cast the English actor Guy Henry (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”), who has a build and stature like Cushing’s and could speak in a similar manner. Throughout filming, Mr. Henry wore motion-capture materials on his head, so that his face could be replaced with a digital re-creation of Cushing’s piercing visage.

Mr. Knoll described the process as “a super high-tech and labor-intensive version of doing makeup.” “We’re transforming the actor’s appearance to look like another character, but just using digital technology,” he said. In striving for a balance between a digital figure who seemed real and one who looked precisely like Cushing, the “Rogue One” creators said seemingly minor tweaks could make significant differences — and these details were tinkered with constantly. For example, the original “Star Wars” film (also known as “A New Hope”) was lit differently than “Rogue One,” raising questions of how to adjust the lighting on the character. 

Hal Hickel, an Industrial Light & Magic animation supervisor, said that lighting him “the way he was in ‘A New Hope’ improved his likeness as Tarkin, but it worsened the sense of him being real because then he didn’t look like any of the actors in the scene.”Side-by-side comparisons of Cushing’s daily footage from “Star Wars” and Mr. Henry’s motion-capture performance also called attention to subtle tics in the original actor’s delivery. As Mr. Knoll explained, “When Peter Cushing makes an ‘aah’ sound, he doesn’t move his upper lip. He only opens his jaw about halfway, and makes this square shape with his lower lip, that exposes his lower teeth.” Before nuances like this were accounted for, Mr. Knoll said their creation “looked like maybe a relative of Peter Cushing and not him exactly.” Still, the animators had one golden rule: “Realism had to trump likeness,” Mr. Hickel said. If the overall effect had not succeeded, Mr. Knoll said there were other narrative choices that would reduce Tarkin’s screen presence. “We did talk about Tarkin participating in conversations via hologram, or transferring that dialogue to other characters,” he said. 

Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic said their re-creation of Cushing was done with the approval of the actor’s estate. But the technique has drawn criticism from viewers and writers. The Huffington Post called it “a giant breach of respect for the dead,” and The Guardian said it worked “remarkably well” but nonetheless described it as “a digital indignity.” Mr. Knoll said he and his colleagues were aware of the “slippery slope argument,” that their simulated Cushing was opening the door to more and more movies using digital reproductions of dead actors. “I don’t imagine that happening,” Mr. Knoll said. “This was done for very solid and defendable story reasons. This is a character that is very important to telling this kind of story.”He added: “It is extremely labor-intensive and expensive to do. I don’t imagine anybody engaging in this kind of thing in a casual manner"

If “Star Wars” films are still made in 50 or 100 years, Mr. Knoll said audiences would probably not see likenesses of Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford playing Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. (He noted that the actor Alden Ehrenreich had already been cast to play the young Han Solo in a coming film about that character.) “We’re not planning on doing this digital re-creation extensively from now on,” Mr. Knoll said. “It just made sense for this particular movie.”

The filmmakers also pointed to a scene at the end of “Rogue One,” when the intercepted Death Star plans are delivered to Princess Leia — who has been digitally recreated to look like Carrie Fisher in the original “Star Wars” — as an appropriate and effective use of the technology. Ms. Fisher died on Tuesday.

 NEW YORK TIMES

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GARETH EDWARDS AND TEAM WERE NERVOUS OF CGI CHARACTER FOR ROGUE ONE

JOYCE BROUGHTON GIVES TARKIN CGI THUMBS UP!

VARIETY DECEMBER 16TH 2016

When audiences flock to multiplexes this weekend to see Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” they’re in for a blast from the past.

The film, which takes place just before the events of George Lucas’ 1977 original installment, brings actor Peter Cushing back to cinematic life through the use of state-of-the-art visual effects wizardry to reprise the role of Grand Moff Tarkin. A British actor — Guy Henry, star of BBC series “Holby City” — was employed to portray the character physically on set, while in post-production, his work was replaced with a rather impressive Cushing performance by the artists of Industrial Light & Magic.

Despite the flap from several quarters, it was pretty obvious that all the 'I's' and 'T's' had been dotted and crossed for the likeness of Peter Cushing as Tarkin to be used in #ROGUEONE, long before a pixel had been drawn. As for the coughing up the 'cash' for such use, you can bet your last Wupipi and Druggat, it went to the estate of Peter Cushing...and good for them, I say. Meanwhile, here's a great interview with Joyce Broughton talking about her time with Peter throughout his career..even until the very end.. enjoy 😉

It was so impressive, in fact, that Cushing’s former secretary — Joyce Broughton, who oversees his estate and attended the film’s London premiere with her grandchildren — was taken aback emotionally when she saw the creation on screen.

“When you’re with somebody for 35 years, what do you expect?” Broughton says. “I can’t say any more because I get very upset about it. He was the most beautiful man. He had his own private way of living.”

 Broughton, who was bequeathed Cushing’s estate when he died without an heir in 1994, was reticent to go into details about the situation due to a confidentiality agreement she signed with Disney and Lucasfilm. But despite the emotions, she said she was dazzled by the experience of the new film.

“I have to say, I’m not a ‘Star Wars’ fanatic, but I did think whoever put it together were absolutely fantastic,” she says. “It’s not just a silly sort of thing. It’s really good!”

Cushing’s digital resurrection was first reported in August of 2015. A Lucasfilm rep tells Variety that the filmmakers will not be discussing the nuts and bolts of what went into the actor’s reprise until January, in order for audiences to see the film and enjoy it without being spoiled by those details. But the implications raised by the bold achievement, and others like it, are another thing entirely — and they’ve been ringing throughout the industry for decades.

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ROGUE ONE TARKIN: SEAMLESS AND EMOTIVE!

NOW AS THE WEEKEND APPROACHES many more of you may be planning to go along and see #ROGUEONE ..and hopefully join the THOUSANDS here and at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, to give us your thoughts on the cinema event that has everyone talking . . . The Return of Peter Cushing's Tarkin to the World of #STARWARS! The sheer volume of messages and emails we have received in the past three days, is quite staggering and unprecedented! So, after your filling our two previous threads and posts, to the point of zero navigation...here is another opportunity to tell us what you think! NO PLOT details please, many have yet to see the film. . .  You can send us an email which will be moderated and included in another feature here on SUNDAY!  So, don't wait, FIRE off those emails and ....You May Fire When Ready 😜

THE GUARDIAN NEWS PAPER 16th December 2016

'The effect is remarkable, if uncanny, and the technology is breathtaking. How the trick was pulled off remains a mystery as the wizards at Lucas Film and Disney remaining tight-lipped about their achievement. Since the start of cinema, its technical magic has always made us gasp, and seeing Cushing interacting, near seamlessly, with new characters brings a smile to the face'.

THE WASHINGTON POST December 15th 2016

'If “Rogue One” wins an Oscar for effects, Cushing — or rather, “Cushing” — should be in no small part why.

'Under director Gareth Edwards, “Rogue One” represents another marker in the decades-long quest for the best CGI-fashioned human replicas. The filmmakers auditioned actors to “play” Cushing’s Tarkin, settling on BBC soap actor Guy Henry. This Tarkin is thus free of the dreaded “dead eye” effect. Lo, though the effects wizards walk through the “uncanny valley,” Tarkin registers as quite alive — even if his facial proportions sometimes read as ever so slightly off from the Original Trilogy. We are nearing the reality of a fully fleshed-out, CGI-enhanced performance long after an actor has passed.'

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THE MAN WHO WOULD BE TARKIN . . .AND CUSHING TOO!

IT IS WONDERFULLY TOUCHING to hear and see the name PETER CUSHING on the radio, on television and in newspapers over the last two days.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

ONE NAME THOUGH that we mentioned quite early on during the 'smoke and mirrors' of the months leading up to the Cushing / Tarkin reveal in #ROGUEONE was GUY HENRY. We learn now, it was he who helped to make the magic in bringing, Cushing and Tarkin back to the big screen. The UK television listings magazine, The Radio Times has published a feature on how Tarkin's Ressurection came about and Henry's role in the scenes that has everyone talking . . . . The following are some extracts from the feature :  

REASONABLY EARLY ON, Ben Mendelsohn’s new villain Director Orson Krennic is brought to meet his superior officer – Governer Wilhuff "Grand Moff" Tarkin, played in the original 1977 by veteran Hammer horror actor Peter Cushing. Obviously, it makes total sense for Tarkin to be there – the film is set only shortly before the original Star Wars, and he was in charge then – but Cushing passed away in 1994, so you might have expected director Gareth Edwards to recast the role. 

BUT THAT'S NOT what Edwards did. Instead, audiences may be surprised to see Cushing once again performing the role, brought back to the screen more than 20 years after his death through a combination of live-action acting, cutting-edge special effects – and an actor from the UK BBC tv series, Holby City.“It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears from [special effects and animation studio] Industrial Light and Magic,” Edwards told Radio Times of Cushing’s return. “John Knoll, whose idea it was to make this film, pitched the idea of doing the opening text of A New Hope as a movie, to Lucasfilm.

“AND HE'S ALWAYS been very aggressive pushing the envelope with what visual effects can do. We were talking about it, and you sort of lay out the movie, and as you start laying it you go ‘you know what, you’ve gotta have these certain characters in there, and I dunno how we’d do it'. “John was always like ‘no we can do this, we can do it, we can do it,’” the director recalled. “He was very confident, and we… you know, to be honest, a lot of people were nervous the whole time, like ‘is this gonna happen?’ And then we went all or nothing in.”So with the effects idea committed to, the team just needed an actor to portray Tarkin’s physical presence before being altered in post-production – and in a surprising development, they looked no further than classic BBC hospital soap opera Holby City.

“IT WAS PLAYED BY an actor called Guy Henry [above], who’s in Holby City, and he was amazing,” Edwards revealed. Rumours of Henry’s involvement have been circulating round Rogue One for some time, as well as the possibility that he could play a younger Grand Moff Tarkin – though no-one predicted that he would be bringing Cushing’s version of the character back so directly.

“IT WAS A MASSIVE THING FOR HIM, it was very gracious of him, because essentially he’s doing this big performance and getting zero credit for it,” Edwards went on.“He was gonna be totally replaced, and then had to keep it all secret. So, um, that was a big ask.”Still, in the end we have to say Henry pulled it off rather well – and without giving too much away, we can say that his Tarkin is not the only original series character to come back with a little movie magic.process for all of that as well.”

'AS FAR AS WE ARE CONCERNED, it’s time, effort and copious special effects money well spent.' - Radio Times December 2016. #ROGUEONE is in cinemas everywhere now.

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ARE YOU READY TO WELCOME THE DARKSIDE ?. . .THE RETURN OF TARKIN

WE'VE JUST CHANGED our banner at our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, just in time for the arrival of #ROGUEONE : A Star Wars Story on the 15th DECEMBER in the UK and 16th DECEMBER in the USA. It seems everyone's lips are still sealed, if and how Peter Cushing appears in the film. However, if you have the time and inclination to spend digging around the net, all the pointers are there, that PC is indeed, in the film. In the meantime, we sit and wait, to see if all hunches are correct.

This isn't the first time we have changed the banner, both Peter Cushing passing and birth anniversaries and usually we marked with a change of banners. A few of which, you can see below... we are just a few away from crossing the 28,000 likes and followers on our FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, please come and join us, you will be MOST welcome!

NEWS: EDWARDS LET SLIP ON TARKIN RETURN USA TODAY

IN A RECENT INTERVIEW, HAS DIRECTOR GARETH EDWARDS LET SLIP, THAT VADER ISN'T GOING TO BE THE ONLY ONE RETURNING IN DECEMBER'S 'ROGUE ONE : STAR WARS STORY?‘

The British director may have revealed some interesting details of  a surprising return in an interview with USA Today, while discussing the film’s main antagonist, Orson Krennic. He revealed that Krennic, the head of Empire’s advanced weapons research wing, played by actor Ben Mendelsohn, will it seems, clash with the upper echelon’s of the Galactic Empire. “It feels like if the Empire ever have a job vacancy, they go to the Royal Shakespeare Company to headhunt people,” Edwards joked. He’s is of course,referring to the upper-class authority of actors such as, our very own Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin in the original movie.

WHEN EDWARDS WAS ASKED, whether he wanted Mendelsohn to adopt a similarly posh accent, Edwards said: “I like the idea that Ben’s character was much more working-class,” adding that he ascended through the Imperial hierarchy “through sheer force of personality and ideas.”

IT WAS THEN that Edwards potentially, reveals the return of a younger Grand Moff Tarkin . . . .“[Krennic] hits a brick wall in the hierarchy, where they won’t let him in the club and it’s going to turn into a them-or-us situation: either Krennic or Tarkin and the others,“ Edwards says.

REPORTS DATING BACK TO August last year have suggested Tarkin’s return, but no official word has come from the filmmakers or the film’s marketing. Some believe the figure seen from behind in 'Rogue One’s trailer (below) could be Tarkin. The hair and head shape certainly appear to be a match, if it were to be a younger Tarkin, maybe . . . A Mail Online UK newspaper feature back last year, reported that the Cushing - who sadly passed in 1994 - would be brought back to life digitally.

 

SUNDAY IS WATCHING CUSHING WITH A CUSHION DAY

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