Anyone who’s had a conversation with me for longer than five minutes knows that I’m a huge film fan. Every aspect of film production is fascinating, and with all the rapidly emerging technology, the films we get to watch now are infinitely different than they were even a few years ago.
Take superhero movies for example. The special effects that we considered mind-blowing in 2005 are now laughable because of how much better it’s gotten. But as the saying goes, you can’t have it too good for too long.
Recently, there have been talks of a film based around the Vietnam War, Finding Jack, set to come out in a few years. Though they are still searching for the majority of the roles to be cast in the film, one has been confirmed: Hollywood icon James Dean.
If that sounds confusing to you, that confusion is understandable: Dean has been dead since 1955.
Using the same CGI technology that has been used recently to resurrect a young Carrie Fisher and Peter Kushing in the Star Wars franchise (both appeared in the spin off Rogue One), they plan on bringing James Dean back to the big screen for the fourth film he never got the chance to make.
A voice actor will provide Dean’s voice, while his appearance will be completely graphic. His family has granted permission for the filmmakers to do this, since Dean’s career was cut short by his tragic death. If this proves to be successful, the producers have mentioned that this technology can be used to bring back other stars we have lost.
Now that sounds great in theory, but there are many who take this to be extremely problematic. Celebrities like Chris Evans and Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, have spoken out about how this is super problematic. Not only does it take away from current actors who do not have a chance at this role, but it also tarnishes the memory that we have of James Dean.
The reason James Dean is so iconic is because he perfectly embodies the “live fast, die young” attitude from the 50s. His role in Rebel Without a Cause will forever be synonymous with him, and remains a symbol of alienated youth. Obviously, if this film continues its production with Dean in the role, it changes everything. The way that people will look at the figure of James Dean will be different.
The casting of James Dean is a mistake. Even though he did have a short-lived career, Dean is still fondly remembered as an iconic star from the Golden Age of Hollywood. His iconic status is up there with stars like Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando.
Watching Rebel Without a Cause or East of Eden after seeing a “resurrected” Dean is going to be much different. Part of what makes the medium of film so special is that we have those recorded moments from the past, and we can look at them from the present in admiration. Though we don’t know what it was truly like at the time, we create a mythos around it and embrace some form of nostalgia that we create for ourselves.
I look at James Dean as the ultimate wayward youth, someone who truly embraced what life threw at him and lived in the moment. He didn’t care about what the future held, because he was alive in that moment.
That’s why James Dean means so much to me and others. This film has the potential to change everything, and the medium of film itself. It’s tragic when we lose inspirations that we look up to, whether that’s someone who’s influenced your passion or someone that you have come to admire because of the work they’ve done or what they represent.
But the body of work that they’ve put out during their life is authentic to what they wanted to do as an artist. This casting completely takes that autonomy away from James Dean, he’s not here to say whether he believes this is a good idea or not, and personally speaking, I don’t believe anyone should be making that choice for him.
Yes, he only made three films in his career, and one of them was released posthumously, but Dean completed filming for that. Even with the new Star Wars film coming in December, The Rise of Skywalker, director J.J. Abrams made it clear that he would use old footage of Carrie Fisher rather than using technology to create an appearance of her.
We already live a life that is completely dominated by technology, but it should have no effect on our lives once we pass.
Graphic by Paloma Callo.
