Marilyn Monroe to Star Again?

Jan.17, 2011 -- In December, movie blogs buzzed with speculation that George Lucas would be bringing back to life dead stars to act in new movies. The rumor arose from comments made by former Lucas collaborator Mel Smith to London's Daily Mail.

"He's been buying up the film rights to dead movie stars," said Smith of Lucas, "in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together in a movie, so you'd have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck appear alongside today's stars."

Such technology has made giant strides in recent years, using computers either to match and merge old footage seamlessly with new—Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum cleaner--or to generate images from scratch and without any real-world precedent.

Within days a Luscasfilm spokesman slapped down the story, dismissing the assertion as "completely false."

But is it?

Agent-to-the-dead Mark Roesler thinks not.

Following the Daily Mail story, Roesler, whose CMG agency has represented the estates of such defunct greats as Ingrid Bergman, James Dean, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis, says he contacted Lucasfilm. "We reached out to them. The discussions were such that Mr. Lucas said those reports were not factually accurate." In what way not? "They were premature. You can read between the lines that this is something he is looking into."

Jamie Salter likewise doubts Lucasfilm's denial.

Salter, chairman and chief executive of Authentic Brands Group, announced January 13 that he had forged a deal with the Monroe estate described as being worth close to $50 million to market new Monroe products, including new movies. He thinks Lucasfilm made its denial because the story "escaped" prematurely, before Lucas was ready to announce his plans and before he had succeeded in signing up all the dead stars he wants.

Salter says he considers himself fortunate to have signed Monroe (1926-1962) before Lucas could get to her. "I had Marilyn Monroe locked up before he told the world he'd like to do a Marilyn Monroe movie," he gloats.