Disney being sued for using Peter Cushing’s likeness in Rogue One

Eight years ago, Peter Cushing was digitally resurrected to appear in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Grand Moff Tarkin, which has now prompted a lawsuit against Disney.

The lawsuit has been filed by Kevin Francis, a film producer and friend of Peter Cushing. He claims that Cushing “agreed not to grant permission for anyone to reproduce his appearance through special effects without his authorization” and that he allegedly “signed the agreement not to allow his image to be used without Francis’s permission in 1993 while preparing to make a television film called A Heritage of Horror, which was not completed.” In addition to Disney, the lawsuit includes Lucasfilm, Lunak Heavy Industries, which produced Rogue One, as well as Cushing’s agency and the estate’s now-deceased executors. The suit alleges that the studio got “unjust enrichment” from Cushing’s digital appearance in the movie.

Disney attempted to have the case dismissed by the High Court in London last year, but it was rejected. Disney subsequently appealed, but Judge Tom Mitcheson upheld the ruling last week, although he admitted he was “far from persuaded” that Francis would win the case. “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out,” he said before adding, “In an area of developing law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries might lie in the absence of a full factual enquiry.“

Disney has claimed it “did not believe permission was required to recreate Cushing because of the terms of his contract in the original film and the nature of the special effects.” They did pay Cushing’s estate “about £28,000” for the use of his likeness in Rogue One. Guy Henry played the role of Tarkin in Rogue One and provided the voice, while ILM duplicated his performance with a digital reconstruction of Cushing. I would wager that this lawsuit will ultimately come out in Disney’s favour, but the issue of digital likeness rights won’t be going away anytime soon, and this could just be the tip of the iceberg.

While we’re on the subject of Rogue One, the second season of Andor, the acclaimed prequel series, is set to debut on Disney+ next year.