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One of the more glaring errors in A New Hope was pilot Wedge being played by two different actors; Colin Higgins in the briefing scene, and Denis Lawson everywhere else, including the two sequels Empire & Jedi. It took until 2017 for this to be ‘corrected’, by simply saying that Colin Higgins was playing a different character, Col Takbright, who has an entire short story devoted to him in the anthology book “From A Certain Point Of View”.
To me, this is nothing more than a cop-out, as every other source prior attributes Higgins’ one line to Wedge. But how else could this be fixed?
Enter “Deepfakes”. High tech video editing using deep-learning algorithms to change people faces, usually to change someone’s facial appearance from one person to another, although it can also be used to change what someone is saying with use of different audio e.g an impersonator.
Now, the question isn’t “Can we change Higgins to look like Lawson in the briefing scene”. The answer to that is Yes. The question is, with the tools that are available to fans, can it be done in high quality and look professional? And should we do it? I feel like those are the more interesting questions.
