Casting Dead Actors Via CGI is Unethical and Disrespectful
In November 2019, it was announced that the late James Dean had been “cast” in the Vietnam War drama Finding Jack . The reactions were negative, but this isn’t the first time Hollywood has resurrected a dead actor for their own purposes such as Audrey Hepburn in an advertisement or Peter Cushing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story . What’s so laughable about the “casting” of James Dean is that it is for a role in a film about a war that he didn’t even live through; the Vietnam War began in November of 1955, just two months after Dean’s tragic and untimely death. This recent controversy opens up a conversation about the ethics of subsequently resurrecting the dead. James Dean as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Many actors spoke up against this casting choice, namely Elijah Wood who very succinctly tweeted, “NOPE. This should not be a thing.” The visceral reactio...