64 years after James Dean's death, the actor will star in a new movie. Some in Hollywood are horrified but the advances in visual effects could make it commonplace.

John Kobal Foundation/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

James Dean.

• James Dean has been cast in an upcoming movie, though he died in 1955.
• It's the latest chapter in the evolution of visual effects in Hollywood, as one of the most iconic figures in the industry is getting a second act.
• The directors of the movie, "Finding Jack," told The Hollywood Reporter they will create a full-body CGI of Dean with the help of archival footage and photographs.
• The filmmakers have approval from Dean's family to do this, but it still has provoked backlash from some big names in Hollywood, like actor Chris Evans.
• Business Insider looked back at recent milestones in visual effects and de-aging technology to show how the industry got to this point.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It was going to happen sooner or later.

The advancements in computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the last decade have been remarkable for Hollywood. CGI helped expand the storytelling of James Cameron's "Avatar," brought back to the screen characters like Grand Moff Tarkin ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story") and Rachael Tyrell ("Blade Runner 2049"), and most recently made aging actors look decades younger in movies like "Gemini Man," "The Irishman," and "Terminator: Dark Fate."

Now one of the screen's most iconic actors - who has been dead for over half a century - has been cast in a new movie thanks to the tech.

Last week, it was announced that an upcoming movie titled "Finding Jack" will star James Dean in the secondary lead role. Dean - who found stardom in the 1950s playing roles in movies like "Rebel Without a Cause," "East of Eden," and "Giant" - died in a car crash at the age of 24 in 1955. His death dramatically silenced a career on the rise, but instantly turned Dean into a legend.

"Finding Jack" directors Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh obtained the rights to use Dean's image from the late actor's family, they told The Hollywood Reporter. The movie, which is based on the novel of the same name, is set around the abandonment of over 10,000 military dogs at the end of the Vietnam War. Dean will play a character named Rogan.

The news of Dean's "casting" has led to an uproar of disapproval on social media from fans of the legend and Hollywood heavyweights like actor Chris Evans, who took to Twitter to voice his displeasure. "Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso," Evans wrote. "Or write a couple new John Lennon tunes."

Ernst told THR he and Golykh "never intended for this to be a marketing gimmick."

"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," he told the trade.

Visual effects companies Imagine Engine and MOI Worldwide will team on doing a full-body CGI of Dean with the help of archival footage and photographs. An actor who sounds similar to Dean will do the voice.

The movie's eyeing a 2020 release on Veterans Day, so it's going to be some time before we see for ourselves how this plays out.

Until then, here's a look back at some of the recent advancements in CGI in just the last few years that brought the industry to this point: