“The main question that you need to ask
yourself is why do it?” Helman said. “You know,
just because you can do it doesn’t mean you
should, you know? That would be one thing
that I’m always questioning: Is it in service of
the story?”
Ethical considerations are likely to give way to
market forces if viewers decide they find digital
versions of dead actors plausible, and palatable.
“I think the moral question is going to be
decided by the audiences and society, whether
they want to see that,” said Bill Westenhofer,
visual effects supervisor on “Gemini Man.”
Dean will be playing a supporting role in
“Finding Jack,” which is now in pre-production.
The limited screen time is, at this point, as far as
those recreating him want to go. But they hope
the digital avatar can eventually carry a movie,
possibly even playing James Dean himself at
different ages.
“At some point there’s going to be the James
Dean biopic,” Cloyd said. “I think the technology
is not necessarily there today to take the risk.”