In just a few days it will be one year since the death of the popular actor Val Kilmer. But if everything goes well, will act again in the indie film As Deep as the Gravegenerated by artificial intelligence. There is no connection with the film that requires resorting to the sadly deceased actor, except that he was hired for the role, although he never filmed any scenes. So what’s the point?
There is no legal or social controversy here to use a digital double of the actor generated with AIbecause his family has given permission to do so. But it is inevitable to wonder if it is ethical, and contributes something, to use a deceased actor in a new film in which he did not participate while alive.
Using an AI replica of an actor may make sense if he must reprise a character with whom the public identified him in life, or he had already shot scenes for the film before he died, and they want to complete them. In the case of As Deep as the Gravewas a new character, and Kilmer had not filmed anything. Come on, a human actor could play it without problems.
Actors generated with AI, the future, or «AI slop»?
Val Kilmer was one of the most popular actors of the ’90s and beyond. He debuted in comedy Top Secret! (1984), but he became a universal actor with much-loved films, such as Willow (1988), and the saga of Top Gun. He was also Batman in a couple of films in the saga, in the 90s.
Val Kilmer died on April 1, 2025, from pneumonia. He was 65 years old. Curiously, in his last film, Top Gun: Maverick (2022), his performance was also edited with artificial intelligence. He had lost his voice due to throat cancer, so the phrases he speaks are his voice generated by an AI trained with audio from the actor’s previous films.
In As Deep as the Grave It will be much more complicated, because in addition to the voice, They are also going to recreate the image of the actor. According to director and screenwriter Coerte Voorhees in The New York Timesthey turned to generative AI programs trained with images, video and audio collected from the actor. They inserted Kilmer’s replica into already filmed scenes using standard editing software.
It is AI-generated Val Kilmer It has the approval of the actors’ guild, and of the Kilmer family, who will receive the payment agreed in the contract, as if they had acted while alive.
As explained by her daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, in an interview in Variety«My father always viewed emerging technologies with optimism, as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling. This spirit is something we all honor in this film.»
The problem with these interpretations post-mortem with AI, is that We will never know if the actor involved would agree. And it’s still a computer-generated interpretation, it’s really not him. So what’s the point?