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Following the news that James Dean, the iconic actor passed away in the 1950s, would return via CGI for the upcoming Vietnam era action-drama Finding Jack, THR reported on Wednesday (November 20) that the role was originally for…a CGI Elvis Presley.

According to the report, filmmakers Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh originally had Elvis in mind for the role of an Army unit leader, but “were turned down by his estate.”

The filmmakers also debated casting a “young Paul Newman” for the lead role, a soldier named Fletcher, but decided to limit the CGI casting to James Dean.

“We don’t want this to become a spectacle — more than it already is,” said Anton of the backlash surrounding the virtual casting, including Chris Evans.

He referred to the backlash as: “nuts, just nuts.”

He also discussed the search for a real-life actor to play alongside the CGI James Dean.

“But it’s a good challenge: Can they outshine James Dean? You’re going to need someone with big balls.”

He also claimed a script was sent to Chris Evans, and that he “liked the story.”

Tati went on to say that they’ve gotten “a lot of emails” from people hoping to voice the virtual James Dean, and there was also the option of computer technology.

“But that’s where we drew the line. We said no, because that would have been a bit ghostly,” Anton clarified.

READ MORE: Chris Evans Slams Idea of James Dean Returning to Screen Via CGI Decades After His Death

News broke this week that James Dean, who passed away in the 1950s, would be returning to the screen via CGI using actual footage and photos from his life. His voice will be voiced by a different actor.

Well, many in Hollywood are against this idea and one of the stars to speak out against this was Marvel star Chris Evans.

“I’m sure he’d be thrilled 🙄,” Chris tweeted out, along with a link to the article breaking the news. “This is awful. Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso. Or write a couple new John Lennon tunes. The complete lack of understanding here is shameful.”

James‘ likeness will be featured in the Vietnam era action-drama Finding Jack.

“We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean,” director Anton Ernst said in a statement. “We feel very honored that his family supports us and will take every precaution to ensure that his legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact. The family views this as his fourth movie, a movie he never got to make. We do not intend to let his fans down.”