So, I got a call afterwards from Kathy saying, 'Well, Carrie loved it.'" Fans were caught off guard by the appearances from Grand Moff Tarkin, Leia Organa, and Darth Vader in Rogue One. "She was involved in the process and, you know, she saw the final result and she loved it," John Knoll said. With that being said, the DeepFake technology is growing at a rapid rate, and it brings some more natural-looking characters to Rogue One, without detracting from the original footage.Īs for Carrie Fisher, she had a bit of a hand in the digital recreation of her younger self. It was a challenge, but John Knoll and crew pulled it off with the tools that they had available at the time. Motion capture actor Guy Henry portrayed the character on the big screen, while the special effects team went through and worked their magic. Grand Moff Tarkin was brought back with the blessing of Peter Cushing's estate. So people are very attuned to, you know, seeing anything that - that looks off." "Well, we look at human faces all day, every day. I mean, it's digital humans, it's the hardest thing in computer graphics," Knoll said in early 2017. At the time of Rogue One's release, Knoll spoke about the challenges of creating a young version of Leia Organa and creating a digital version of Grand Moff Tarkin. John Knoll is the chief creative officer and senior visual effects guru for Lucasfilm. Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher look more natural in the DeepFake video, which may even have some viewers believing that it's the real deal. The DeepFake technology has flourished in the last few years, and Shamook, the DeepFake artist behind the new Tron: Legacy video, has greatly improved the look of Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia Organa in the movie. The special effects were state of the art at the time, but even 4 years later, it looks a bit dated.
For the most part, Rogue One has been embraced by Star Wars fans since its release.