Since its acquisition by Disney, Lucasfilm has relied on motion capture as well as CGI to reinstate the original actor’s likeness over iconic characters such as Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin, to mixed results – notably, the latest character to benefit from such treatment, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, received criticism despite a positive response to the character’s narrative reintroduction.
Following the reveal – which took place in the final episode of The Mandalorian’s second season – several YouTubers took it upon themselves to improve Luke Skywalker’s treatment; and now, one such YouTube has been hired by Lucasfilm itself.
YouTube user Shamook has been hired as a Senior Facial Capture Artist – a positive sign that Disney is both listening to its fanbase and will likely rely heavily on deepfake and CGI technologies in the near future.
On the subject, Lucasfilm commented to the press that “over the past several years ILM has been investing in both machine learning and A.I. as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances.”
Whether we’ll see other reintroductions of classic characters using their original likeness remains to be seen.
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