A new lawsuit goes where few legal cases have gone before to determine the power of an actor to control the use of his likeness after death.
According to a report in The Times, a friend of Peter Cushing is battling Disney in court over the use of a computer-generated image of Cushing in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”
The 2016 film was made long after Cushing died in 1994, but the prequel called for an appearance by his character, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.
Disney said it initially believed there was no issue because the terms of the contract from 1977 gave them free rein to do as they wished.
However, once Cushing’s agent was on the case, Disney paid £28,000 to Cushing’s estate to have a safe, legal claim to the use of Cushing’s likeness.
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But Kevin Francis, a producer who used Cushing in some of his films and said he was a close friend of Cushing, said the actor would never have agreed to the use of his likeness because he did not want it used unless he authorized such an appearance.
On Monday, Disney lost a round in its effort to have the lawsuit, which seeks less than £500,000, thrown out.
Disney Sued For Using Peter Cushing’s Face In Star Wars: Rogue One https://t.co/cIjernUlB0 pic.twitter.com/l1w1sImmwk
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) September 11, 2024
Was it right for Disney to put a digitally-recreated Cushing in its movie?
Francis is not only suing Disney’s Lucasfilm and Lunak Heavy Industries, which produced “Rogue One,” but also the executors of Cushing’s estate and the agency that represented the actor.
Disney rejected the claim of “unjust enrichment” and said it was a “bona fide purchaser for value” of the rights to use Cushing’s image.
Disney lost its first bid at having the case thrown out and lost another on Monday.
Judge Tom Mitcheson said he was “far from persuaded” that the case would be successful, but also said: “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out.”
“In an area of developing law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries might lie in the absence of a full factual inquiry,” he said.
“We weren’t doing anything that I think Peter Cushing would’ve objected to. I think this work was done with a great deal of affection and care,” John Knoll, who was the visual effects supervisor for “Rogue One,” said according to the Independent.
“We know that Peter Cushing was very proud of his involvement in Star Wars and had said as much, and that he regretted that he never got a chance to be in another Star Wars film because George [Lucas] had killed off his character,” he said.
“This was done in consultation and cooperation with his estate. So we wouldn’t do this if the estate had objected or didn’t feel comfortable with this idea,” he said.
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