SPECULATION Can Alec Guinness be part of TFA?

if anyone can do it ILM can. maybe they have some unused footage from years back. I think it would make since for Obi Wan to make an appearance either by voice or projection. Tupac made it happen. according to some rumors, he wants a hologram either. a special effects studio called Digital Domain made it happen. but who will be the voice of Obi Wan?

 

As you mentioned Luke is the one who sees him, and is attached so it would be agood thing if he shows up to him or at least hears his voice.

The rumors of Yoda's ghost coming to visit Luke(where ever that came from, don't remember)but has less impact to me when it is Obi Wan he has seen through out the OT.

I mean, I have no problem if Yoda shows up but it makes more sense for Obi Wan and if it is Alec if at all possible to do so.

 

As you mentioned Luke is the one who sees him, and is attached so it would be agood thing if he shows up to him or at least hears his voice.

The rumors of Yoda's ghost coming to visit Luke(where ever that came from, don't remember)but has less impact to me when it is Obi Wan he has seen through out the OT.

I mean, I have no problem if Yoda shows up but it makes more sense for Obi Wan and if it is Alec if at all possible to do so.

 

I removed the HUMOR tag

 

I can see this happening. There was a promo film a while ago with R2 in some offices or something (anyone remember that?) I thought it odd at the time that of all the characters who also appeared, Obi-Wan featured -- albeit as a faceless, robed presence. But his voice was convincing. Whoever did the voice for that promo could do it for TFA.

Also, I haven't given up on the idea that MvS may be playing Obi-Wan....

 

http://gizmodo.com/5707079/george-lucas-plans-to-resuscitate-dead-movie-stars

Lucas would be the man to do it. He has been preparing to do it for awhile but on a much larger scale than just Obi-Wan.

 

I recently watched an episode of this BBC show called Black Mirror (Be Right Back: Season 2 Ep. 1 on Netflix) where they explored the morality of bringing back the dead in the form of an animatronic look alike. In the episode a wife loses her new husband and begins to grieve. A friend recommends this new service that replicates his voice and speech patterns based on past emails, phone calls, text messages, etc. Bringing back the dead in this way I understand is different but for the family it still might be unsettling. It would certainly make since to bring him back, but to actually see him on screen...It could be viewed as insensitive.

 

IIRC, they did it with Marlon Brando in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns
EDIT: Sorry, I read NOW the article and they say it. My fault

 

This isn't a new issue... I believe (from memory) that the first time this was ever done was with George Burns, but trying to find it on the net said Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart were in a film in 1987. Audrey Hepburn was brought back after her death, with a healthy donation to her fav charity, but that was more manipulation of footage to insert her into a modern commercial, which is done often. Presumably, the actor's family owns the legacy rights to the usage of such images, but with the state of CGI and the blurring of lines between live and created images through the gateway of mocap, this will most likely occur with increasing regularity...

Perhaps the mocap character Serkis is playing will turn out to be Obi Wan...

 

They did it with Peter Cushing for EpIII -- although, tbh, I can't really see why they bothered, he was on screen so briefly. Looked good though, did the job....

 

I believe you are mistaken... Wayne Pygram played Wilhuff Tarkin in Ep III

 

Regardless, they brought back a character after the actor who originally portrayed him had passed away. There's a precedent. Someone else would need to do the voice -- but whether with CGI, make-up, lookalike or re-appropriated unused footage, Guiness/Obi-Wan could return to the screen....

EDIT: in fact, there could be a few returning from the dead in TFA, lol....

 

This is no more a precedent, IMHO, than bringing back Obi Wan in Ep I after Alec Guiness died... yes, he was at a much younger stage of life, so was Tarkin...

The issue isn't the persistence of the character, which they have absolute right to do... the issue is whether they can bring back Alec as himself when he is dead to play the same character, not if they can bring someone else in to play the role...

 

They're still making action figures in his likeness. His visage still informs comic book renditions. So why not?

Guiness lent his face to Obi-Wan, so his face is no longer strictly his own. If LF/Disney want to bring the character back, they'll do so. Personally, I have no issue with it....

 

Personally I think as long as the script requires Obi-Wan to appear to Luke then it HAS TO BE Sir Alec Guinness. Using McGregor -- and this was rumored even back in 2012 that he'd be aged to play the ghost -- would NOT work IMO. That's one of those jarring things that takes you out of a movie when you go, "Oh, look they did bring in McGregor."

I think It's perfectly fine to use Alec's image in conjunction with SW since all the actors basically signed their likenesses away to LFL in perpetuity for all of the varied merchandising. Also, I think this would benefit the Guinness estate.

However, all of this said, I read wayyy back in 2012 on another board that ILM attempted to perform the feat of "resurrecting" an Obi-Guinness force ghost and it did not go well. Still I believe that this is something they have been working on and IF we see Kenobi's ghost in the ST it will be Alec's likeness as it should be and ILM will have found a way to make it flawless.

 

Do not confuse the ability to license a character in a movie that was portrayed by an actor with the ability to license the likeness of the actor... this is actually getting to be rather a serious legal debate in Hollywood, which is generally resolved with a donation to the family of the actor (which, rightfully, the actor would have been compensated for had they appeared dum vivam)

 

Carrie Fisher has repeatedly stated that George Lucas had the main actors sign away the rights to use their likeness in any way for all time (<-- quoted from memory). Assuming this is true, and that it also applied to Sir Guinness, there would be little reason to object to old style Obi-Wan in the ST.