James Dean is being “reimagined” with AI, with other deceased stars in the wings. Can the Rebel Without a Cause trilogy be far away?Word is that James Dean is making a comeback. Sixty-seven years after the release of his last movie, the coolest guy ever to wear a leather jacket while glowering at a camera through the smoke of the cigarette dangling from his lips is reported to have a role in a new film called. I know what you’re thinking: James Dean is dead. And technically, you’re right.
The idea of digitally resurrecting Dean struck some as creepy when it was first touted a few years ago and, if anything, the proposal is more contentious now. The US actors’ strike that began in July was triggered in part by concern that technical wizardry could render live performers obsolete. Similarly, deceased stars whose heirs sell rights to their personas could be vulnerable to limitless digital exploitation.
You know those questions you type into Google when you can’t sleep, and the rabbit holes you then fall into? That’s where P J Vogt goes on, a podcast with the motto: “No question too big, no question too small.