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SALT LAKE CITY — James Dean, an iconic Hollywood actor who has been dead for 64 years, has been cast in a new Hollywood film, according to news reports.
Dean, who died in 1955 at age 24, will star in a new Vietnam war drama titled “Finding Jack,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will be directed by Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh and is based on Gareth Crocker’s novel of the same name.
Dean will be resurrected through the use of computer-generated imagery and visual effects, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ernst and Golykh’s film production company Magic City Films obtained the rights to use Dean’s image from his family, according to the publication.
"We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean," Ernst told The Hollywood Reporter.
Dean’s full body will be reconstructed through the use of videos and photos of the actor. Another actor will voice Dean in the film, The Hollywood Reporter says.
The book “Finding Jack” is about a U.S. soldier who rescues and forms a bond with a military dog. It is based on the true story of the U.S. military’s abandonment of thousands of its own dogs at the end of the Vietnam War.
Dean has been cast as a character named Rogan, who is thought to be a secondary lead character, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dean starred in “Rebel Without A Cause” and “East of Eden” before he died in a car crash. He was considered a cultural icon and one of the most promising young actors of his generation before his death.
The news of Dean’s impending digital “resurrection” comes at a time when the use of digital manipulation to alter actors’ appearance in films is becoming more common.
The action blockbuster “Gemini Man” debuted earlier this fall and stars two versions of Will Smith. One version as the 51-year-old actor in his natural state, and a second as a digitally de-aged younger version of himself.
Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Netflix gangster epic “The Irishman” also will feature the use of digital de-aging technology to alter the appearance of actor Robert De Niro.
