Is George Lucas Planning to Bring Actors Back From the Dead? [UPDATE: No]

In one of the more bizarre rumors in a while, George Lucas-collaborator Mel Smith (director of Radioland Murders) claims that Lucas is buying the film rights to dead movie stars in hopes of casting them in a movie with the help of digital effects. Given his track record for the last 10 years, I honestly didn't think Lucas could do anything that would make my jaw drop for even a moment. But bravo. I was wrong.

Smith told the Daily Mail:

"He's been buying up the film rights to dead movie stars 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."

And for whatever it's worth, Harry Knowles seems to think this idea is totally feasible:

"...I've seen some amazing things done with classic movie stars by a few talented filmmakers, in terms of tests that pretty much told me, this is definitely going to become a reality for us movie-goers."

So what can we expect if Lucas follows through? A Star Wars spin off where it turns out Boba Fett was Marlon Brando all along? A sequel to Howard the Duck with Rita Hayworth? Hell, maybe he can even buy the rights to a Harrison Ford that doesn't hate Star Wars.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow already set a precedent of sorts by casting the late Laurence Olivier as a disembodied head. But when I consider the implications of this technology becoming commonplace, l feel like my head's about to go, Scanners-style. Remakes, reboots, and rip-offs were enough, but what is going to become of Hollywood if they can dip into a back-catalog of famous stars too? And imagine what classic cinema savants like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese might do with this sort of technology.

In any case, Lucas camp hasn't confirmed or denied anything and part of me still wonders if Lucas is just buying screen rights to dead actors because, you know, dude's gotta spend all that money somehow. Chime in with your thoughts below, if you can sort them all out.

UPDATE: A Lucasfilm rep reached for comment this morning dismissed the dead-actors report as a "false rumor." Still: Marlon Brando as Boba Fett! Make it happen!