8 Years On, Rogue One's Peter Cushing Resurrection Is Part of a ...

As reported by The Times, an old friend of the late Peter Cushing is suing Lucasfilm and Lunak Heavy Industries for digitally recreating the actor’s likeness in Rouge One: A Star Wars Story. 

According to the report, producer Kevin Francis, who made several film with Cushing including The Ghoul, Legend of the Werewolf and The Masks of Death, claims “the actor agreed not to grant permission for anyone to reproduce his appearance through special effects without his authorization.” Cushing allegedly “signed the agreement not to allow his image to be used without Francis’s permission in 1993 while preparing to make a television film called A Heritage of Horror, which was not completed.”

Though Francis’s claim sounds a bit shaky at first, the outlet notes “The Disney group, which made Rogue One, failed on Monday to have Francis’s claim for ‘unjust enrichment’ dismissed at the High Court in London.” Following Disney’s appeal, Judge Tom Mitcheson stated he was “far from persuaded” Francis would be able to win his lawsuit, though added, “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out.”

Francis’s company, Tyburn Film Productions, which is said to be seeking less than £500,000 in damages, additionally “brought claims against the executors of Cushing’s estate, who have both died, and Associated International Management, the agency that represented Cushing until his death.” In court, Disney defended itself by claiming it “did not believe permission was required to recreate Cushing because of the terms of his contract in the original film and the nature of the special effects”–namely, a digital reconstruction of the actor atop a stand-in body double performed by actor Guy Henry–a development in special effects scarcely conceivable in 1993. Still, Disney agreed to pay the actor’s estate “about £28,000” for the use of his appearance in Rogue One. Because of this, the company believes there’s no arguable case for “unjust enrichment,” as Disney attests to be a “bona fide purchaser for value” of the rights to Cushing’s image and the right to digitally resurrect Star Wars: A New Hope‘s Grand Moff Tarkin.

Though it may seem odd Francis possessed the future sight to consider the use of Cushing’s posthumous likeness in later movies, the outlet notes the death of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow additionally transpired in 1993 (the same year the actor and producer are said to have reached their agreement) and how the film was completed and released with the use of “body doubles and special effects.” While the Star Wars franchise’s popularity was at a comparatively low ebb in the early 90’s, perhaps Francis spotted an ad for The Truce at Bakura in the same issue of Cinescape he read about that film’s controversy, and got spooked.

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