How's this for an encore?
Laurence Olivier, the legendary British thespian who died more than 15 years ago, is being resurrected to play a featured role in the upcoming sci-fi flick, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, according to the film's star, Jude Law.
Breaking the news at the annual Comic-Con International Sci-Fi convention in San Diego, Law revealed that Sky Captain's filmmakers plan to use old footage of a young Olivier and, with the aid of computer wizardry--bring him to life as the villainous leader of a band of giant killer robots terrorizing a retro New York City.
Law, who costars in the film with the living likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, says playing opposite one of the greatest actors of all time is an honor, even if Sir Laurence has been dead for 15 years.
"He plays my nemesis. And he's referred to throughout the movie, so you know eventually you're going to get to see this bad guy," Law said. "It builds up, and you only see him in the last minutes, and he's in hologram form."
Law said that Olivier's would provide some much needed gravitas to the fantasy film.
The footage is being taken from several of the Oscar winner's movies as well as archive material. However, because Olivier isn't around to record new dialogue, another actor was brought in to give voice to the film's baddie.
During his lifetime, Olivier was heralded for adapting many of Shakespeare's best known works to the big screen, including Hamlet (for which he won an Oscar), Othello, Henry V and Richard III, as well as his riveting performances in such classics as Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Uncle Vanya, Spartacus and Battle of Britain.
Gen-X and -Y moviegoers might better remember his villainous turns in Marathon Man and The Boys from Brazil, or his role as Zeus in 1981's Clash of the Titans.
Olivier isn't the first dead celeb to be working from beyond the grave. Hollywood icons Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Groucho Marx and Fred Astaire have all put in posthumous appearances on screen, but usually in commercials.
Sky Captain, which was originally due out this summer but was pushed to the fall to avoid blockbuster competition, was helmed by first-time director Kerry Conran and produced by Jon Avnet, who was so impressed with Conran's six-minute reel of CGI robots destroying the Big Apple that he hired the neophyte.
Set in 1930s New York, the movie stars Law as pilot Joseph "Sky Captain" Sullivan who teams up with his old flame, beautiful reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) and a hard-bitten fighter jockey (Jolie) to try to stop an evil scientist from taking over the world.
Sky Captain flies into theaters on Sept. 17.