20 Little Known Star Wars Facts
17. Back from the Dead
A well-respected actor, Cushing was paid much more per day of shooting than the stars of the movie, and he was idolized by many members of the cast.
Though Tarkin dies at the end of “A New Hope” when Luke blows up the Death Star, Lucas was anxious to include this iconic character in the 2005 prequel, “Revenge of the Sith.”
The only problem was that Cushing, too, had passed away in 1994. Filmmakers turned to Cushing’s close friend Christopher Lee – who was starring as Count Dooku in the prequels – to ask whether he thought they should find a way to resurrect Cushing digitally so that he could appear in the film.
Animation director Rob Coleman considered creating a computer-animated version of Cushing to portray Tarkin, and other artists thought about taking scenes that had been cut from the first movie and digitally altering Cushing’s lips so that they would match the new dialogue.
In the end, however, plans were scrapped to use Cushing’s image at all. Instead, actor Wayne Pygram was cast to play the role of Tarkin. He was outfitted with prosthetics that made him look like the original actor, and he can be seen discussing the Death Star’s construction with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine at the end of the film.
