Following turns in such technologically advanced franchises as The Avengers and Star Wars, Captain Marvel star and veteran actor Samuel L. Jackson is open to being digitally recreated and appearing in movies posthumously.
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“Awesome,” the 70-year-old star told The Hollywood Reporter when asked how he feels about potentially being digitally resurrected someday.
Advancements that allow actors’ visages to appear after they’ve died revived Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 22 years after his death. That same film de-aged Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia, using digital tricks to recreate how the then-21-year-old actress appeared in 1977’s original Star Wars.
Long before Jackson took on the role of one-eyed super spy Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, the actor was among the bigger names in George Lucas’ state-of-the-art, CGI-filled Star Wars prequel trilogy, then a new concept for the Pulp Fiction star.
When surrounded by digital creatures and locations alike during his tenure as unruffled Jedi Master Mace Windu, Jackson learned how to best navigate imaginary settings: by asking the right questions.
“He said, ‘You need to know how big is it, where is it, how fast is it,’” Jackson recounted. “And I was, like, ‘Okay. How big is it?’ He said, ‘Uh, about an SUV.’ ‘How fast is it?’ ‘Mm, 40 miles an hour.’ ‘And where is it?’ ‘Coming straight at you.’”
Digital tools are used to de-age Jackson’s Fury in Captain Marvel, set in 1995, which brings him into contact with cosmic warrior Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and acts as an origin story for the future S.H.I.E.L.D. leader.
“The movie is definitely called Captain Marvel. It becomes a two-hander for parts of it. So we sort of wanted to give the audience that kind of young Nick Fury origin story… and it’s all there. Hopefully in a way that compliments Carol’s adventure, too,” producer Jonathan Schwartz told ComicBook.com.
That same de-aging technology could be used to revive Jackson’s slain Jedi Master should Disney-owned Lucasfilm explore another live-action Star Wars story set before Windu’s death in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.
“Yeah, I’m totally interested in revisiting Mace Windu, always,” Jackson said in July of returning to a galaxy far, far away. “Jedi never die.”
Captain Marvel opens March 8.
