64-years after his death, James Dean will once again return to the silver screen.
The movie legend will come back thanks to special effects that will recreate his image from old footage and photographs. James Dean died at the age of 24 in a car crash.
He has been posthumously cast in Vietnam War action-drama ‘Finding Jack’. The production house obtained the rights to use Dean’s image from his family, for the film which is based on the 2008 novel by the same name by Gareth Crocker.
The book tells the story of US military dogs, which were deployed and abandoned during the US retreat in Vietnam.
James Dean became a star in the 1950s after his role in ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. Before his life was cut short, he was a Hollywood heartthrob and is still celebrated as a youth icon today.
Dean will play the second lead character of Rogan. According to co-director Anton Ernst, “We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extremely complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean.”
“We feel very honoured that his family supports us and will take every precaution to ensure that his legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact.”
Dean will be re-created through CGI, using archive footage and photos as a base template. Another actor will provide his voice.
The news was not greeted with celebration, however. Marvel Avenger’s star Chris Evans tweeted, “This is awful. Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso. The complete lack of understanding here is shameful.”
The film is due out for release next November.
