Fame After Death

In 1993 Brandon Lee was shot by accident during the making of the movie The Crow. They got rid of the professional arms guy to save money and the prop master used powerful blanks that struck Lee in the abdomen and hit his spine. Surgeons tried for 5 hours to save him.

Other picks for Lee's part were Johnny Depp, Christian Slater and River Phoenix. I doubt the movie would have been as big a hit as it was without Lee's death.

CGI was pretty new back then but they completed the movie with body doubles, bad lighting and Lee's face superimposed on a double. I remember thinking at the time how in the future computers could bring back long dead actors for movies again. We'd have crappy John Wayne films and aging actors could be young again on screen.

   Errol Flynn or is it Alec Baldwin? 

Stars that got old and had the boozy puffy look to them could have a second go at stardom without weird ass cosmetic surgery. Oliver Reed very rudely died of a heart attack in 1999 before Gladiator had been completed so they quickly stuck his CGI face in for a few seconds to bring closure to his character. 

Bad CGI can be covered up with night scenes (Underworld) but these days you can do it in daylight and it stands up to scrutiny.   

Robert Downey jr looked amazing in that scene in Civil war when a computer program showed him as a youth. 

But it lacked the warmth of the real thing and looked a little too comic book like. You can see character in Downey's real face but not in the CGI version no matter what quips he comes off with. Still an amazing job though.    

 Old Peggy Carter and a young Hank Pym. 

Michael Douglas looked great when they de-aged him for Ant Man. Douglas' face isn't as expressive as Downey's so maybe that is how it worked better. 

Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button, Jeff Bridges in the Tron re-boot and Bruce Willis in Surrogates, anyone can be young again ... on screen. Someday there will be an app for your selfies too that actually works. 

 You can't expect a Princess to have trigger discipline. 

After nerds complaining that Princess Leia got old and fat in The Force Awakens, Disney made her young for a Rogue One cameo. Fisher had changed so much over the years that they couldn't use motion capture on her so an actress named Ingvild Deila played her part with CGI enhancements. 

Rogue One brought Peter Cushing back from the dead for the role of Grand Moff Tarkin but they ended up making him look like a frail old skeleton ... oh wait, that's actually him, my bad. 

The real fake Cushing. 

Is it ethical? The actor no longer has a say in what they do. Maybe they'll sign after death movie deals now. Cushing's estate no doubt gave permission and if it pleases the fans and makes them some money then whatever. 

If you think Hollywood gives out unrealistic goals and body image issues to the public then just wait for the eternal youth thing to really kick in. 

I want to see a Marylin Munroe Hollywood gang bang tape ... my original version was destroyed in a fire and I've always wanted to see Lana Turner get Bukkaked. 

Hugh Jackman was too tall to play Wolverine but did it anyways, he could do that role forever now and not have to worry about aging. After seeing a young Clint Eastwood in Coogan's Bluff I thought that he'd be a good Wolverine or a Judge Dredd. 

James Marsters is now 54 and would have liked to have a Spike spin off from Buffy and Angel but is concerned about looking too old for an ageless vampire. I'd watch the fuck out of that if they made it. 

Actors can do some easy money voice over work, get their face mapped and be working on one movie in real life with a CGI and body double doing another half a world away. Of course some would abuse this technology, Michael Caine would really be in everything then and for forever.