Sues Disney and Lucasfilm for using the image of this deceased actor | TierraGamer: news and entertainment of anime, series, video games and technology

The new lawsuit between Disney and Lucasfilm is filed by Kevin Francis on behalf of Tyburn Film Productions and alleges that Peter Cushing signed an agreement in 1993 prohibiting the use of his likeness without Francis’ permission.

Eight years after the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 30 years after his death, the lawsuit comes in. Cushing’s character, Grand Moff Tarkin, was digitally recreated using CGI with the help of actor Guy Henry as a body double.

Cushing, who died of cancer in 1994, played the character Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Tar Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope film in 1977.

With the exception of a brief animated cameo in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith and a younger version of the character voiced by Stephen Stanton, Tarkin had remained largely unseen in the Star Wars universe following Cushing’s death.

Sues Disney and Lucasfilm for using Peter Cushing’s image

In 2017, John Knoll, who worked as a VFX supervisor on Rogue One, said that Cushing gave the green light. “We weren’t doing anything that I think Peter Cushing would have been opposed to. I think this work was done with a lot of love and care,” Knoll told Yahoo Movies.

Now, Kevin Francis claims that the actor never gave anyone permission to reproduce his likeness through CGI without his prior authorization. The two worked together on several films, including The Ghoul, Legend of the Werewolf and The Masks of Death.

Francis confirms that he and Cushing reached an agreement in 1993, before the actor died, while they were preparing to shoot a film titled A Heritage of Horror, which was never completed.

Disney, which owns the rights to Star Wars, failed to get the High Court to dismiss Francis’ claims of “unjust enrichment.”

Francis’ company, Tyburn Film Productions, is also filing lawsuits against Rogue One producers Lunak Heavy Industries, as well as Cushing’s agency and the executors of his estate.

Lucasfilms is protesting the case, claiming that it did not need permission to recreate Cushing’s likeness when A New Hope was remastered in 1997 and that $37,000 was paid to his estate to authorize the use of his likeness.

For now, Tom Mitcheson of the High Court in London has rejected Disney’s attempts to dismiss the case, saying it should proceed to trial. Although he acknowledged he was “far from convinced” Francis would win the case.

Mitcheson said the claim was not “uncontestable” and required a full factual investigation: “Nor am I persuaded that the case is uncontestable to the level required for summary judgment or dismissal. In a developing area of ​​the law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries may lie in the absence of a full factual investigation.”

We will have to wait for the ruling, which would be important for actors who want their image not to be digitally recreated.

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