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Commuting to work today, I read a piece in the _The Globe & Mail_ (one of two
national papers up here) about something familiar to those who've read Connie
Willis' short novel _Remake_. The news story is titled: "'Synthespians' :
return of the living dead?" Apparently a company called Virtual Celebrity
Productions (VCP) has signed the rights (from their various estates) to
Marlene
Dietrich, Gracie Allen, George Burns, James Cagney, Sammy Davis Jr., W.C.
Fields, Natalie Wood, Bing Crosby and Vincent Price. The idea, as in Willis'
novel, is to digitally manipulate their images so as to produce new
features in
which they star. Recently, they produced a commercial featuring "Marlene
Dietrich", shown at an exhibition run by the Association for Computing
Machinery in LA.
Obviously there are large technical problems to deal with, but the question
seems only to be when, not whether. VCP's head predicts the first feature will
appear by 2004.
'I can see Cagney doing a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces,' he says, for one
possibilty.
Peter Riva, Dietrich's grandson: 'After all, you never really *saw* Dietrich,
just her image on the screen, and that's what we can now continue.'
The article goes on:
"Riva personally wants to see his grandmother in a 'prequel' to the great
Bogart-Bergman classic. Casablanca.
"'Remember in the story that Rick was in Paris and got his heart broken by a
girl before he met Bergman?' he asks excitedly. 'Well, Dietrich is the girl!'
And who would play the late Humphrey Bogart, who died in 1957? 'Bogey himself,
of course,' says Riva."
Enough surrealism? I propose a half-hour televison series, in the style of the
old Twilight Zone, drawing on the short stories of Philip K. Dick, each
episode
introduced by ... Philip K. Dick.
Synthespianism: the next best thing to half-life.
"Something appealing, something appalling ..."
By the way, those interested in reading the article should check the paper's
web site <http://www.GlobeAndMail.CA/> in a day or two. They often post items
there.
Cheers,
Wayne Daniels
Rosencrantz: What are you playing at?
Guildenstern: Words, words. They're all we have to go on.
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<font size=3>Commuting to work today, I read a piece in the _The Globe
& Mail_ (one of two national papers up here) about something familiar
to those who've read Connie Willis' short novel _Remake_. The news story
is titled: "'Synthespians' : return of the living dead?"
Apparently a company called Virtual Celebrity Productions (VCP) has
signed the rights (from their various estates) to Marlene Dietrich,
Gracie Allen, George Burns, James Cagney, Sammy Davis Jr., W.C. Fields,
Natalie Wood, Bing Crosby and Vincent Price. The idea, as in Willis'
novel, is to digitally manipulate their images so as to produce new
features in which they star. Recently, they produced a commercial
featuring "Marlene Dietrich", shown at an exhibition run by the
Association for Computing Machinery in LA. <br>
<br>
Obviously there are large technical problems to deal with, but the
question seems only to be when, not whether. VCP's head predicts the
first feature will appear by 2004.<br>
<br>
'I can see Cagney doing a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces,' he says,
for one possibilty.<br>
<br>
Peter Riva, Dietrich's grandson: 'After all, you never really *saw*
Dietrich, just her image on the screen, and that's what we can now
continue.'<br>
<br>
The article goes on:<br>
<br>
"Riva personally wants to see his grandmother in a 'prequel' to the
great Bogart-Bergman classic. Casablanca.<br>
<br>
"'Remember in the story that Rick was in Paris and got his heart
broken by a girl before he met Bergman?' he asks excitedly. 'Well,
Dietrich is the girl!' And who would play the late Humphrey Bogart, who
died in 1957? 'Bogey himself, of course,' says Riva."<br>
<br>
Enough surrealism? I propose a half-hour televison series, in the style
of the old Twilight Zone, drawing on the short stories of Philip K. Dick,
each episode introduced by ... Philip K. Dick.<br>
<br>
Synthespianism: the next best thing to half-life.<br>
<br>
"Something appealing, something appalling ..." <br>
<br>
By the way, those interested in reading the article should check the
paper's web site
<<a href="http://www.globeandmail.ca/" eudora="autourl"><font size=3>http://www.GlobeAndMail.CA/</a><font size=3>>
in a day or two. They often post items there.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><br>
<div>Wayne Daniels</div>
<br>
<div>Rosencrantz: What are you playing at?</div>
Guildenstern: Words, words. They're all we have to go on.
</html>
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