In a recent Entertainment Weekly article, James Cameron said that although the computer-generated characters in “Avatar” are aliens, he could’ve just as easily created real-looking humans in the computer.
I am skeptical about that. At the end of 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” we see a young-looking Professor Xavier welcoming Wolverine to his school. Clearly, Patrick Stewart’s current features were manipulated via computer to make him look younger (the same thing was done for flashback scenes in “X-Men 3”). Instead, it looks kind of fake and creepy.
Then again, Cameron is a better (and better-funded) filmmaker than the guys who made the “X-Men” films, and he has given me no reason to doubt him. All of his movies since “The Terminator” are amazing, and they all advance movie technology a significant step beyond where it previously stood (see the water creature in “The Abyss,” the liquid metal Terminator and the sinking of the Titanic, to list a few examples).
It might not happen today, it might not happen tomorrow, but at some point in the future, someone will make a whole movie with computer-generated humans, and it will look real. Cameron is a good bet to be the guy who does it, but then again, he might take another 12-year break between blockbusters and someone else will achieve the inevitable milestone.
There’s no point in doing it just to do it (It’s much less work to capture an actor’s performance via old-fashioned acting in front of a camera). But if something can’t be done the old-fashioned way, then this new technology becomes quite intriguing. For example, Cameron suggested in the EW piece: “Let’s say Clint Eastwood really wanted to do one last ‘Dirty Harry’ movie, looking the way he did in 1975. He could absolutely do it now. And that would be cool.”
Using the “Dirty Harry” example as a stepping stone, I ask this question, dear readers: What movie sequel — that would be otherwise impossible to make — would you like to see with this new technology?
As a “Star Wars” fan, it’s interesting to think about novelist Timothy Zahn’s revered Thrawn trilogy (“Heir to the Empire,” “Dark Force Rising” and “The Last Command,” which are de facto Episodes VII through IX) being made into movies. Those stories take place a few years after “Return of the Jedi,” so Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are now about 25 years older than they should be for those episodes. However, all three are still alive and well and working in the industry. So I am intrigued by the idea of a non-animated Thrawn trilogy with performances by Ford, Hamill and Fisher (providing motion capture and voices), only they look 25 years younger.
Obviously, there is a creepiness factor there, too. Either it would look just fake enough to throw you off (like the Xavier at the end of “Wolverine”), or it would look — as Cameron promises — completely convincing. Either your mind would be blown by how horrible it looks or by how great it looks. You certainly wouldn’t have a “whatever” reaction.
So — assuming we have now entered the movie-making era where anything is possible — what is your dream sequel? Another “Dirty Harry?” More “Star Wars” with the classic cast? Share your thoughts in the comment thread below.