Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 19
7-Minute Clip Revives Val Kilmer in 3-Hour Posthumous Film
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 19

7-Minute Clip Revives Val Kilmer in 3-Hour Posthumous Film

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 19

Summary

  • A seven-minute clip released Wednesday shows an AI-generated Val Kilmer as a Catholic priest in As Deep as the Grave, marking the first footage of the late actor in the posthumous film.
  • Kilmer appears in about a third of the three-hour movie after production turned to AI to complete a role he had accepted before delays from the pandemic and his throat cancer.
  • The film used family-archive images, later footage and pre-tracheotomy voice recordings, with writer-director Coerte Voorhees saying Kilmer had strongly backed the project before his 2025 death at 65.
  • Kilmer's estate approved the use of his likeness and was compensated under SAG guidelines, while daughter Mercedes Kilmer said the actor saw AI as a way to expand storytelling despite wider industry concerns.
  • As Deep as the Grave, co-starring Tom Felton, Wes Studi, Abigail Lawrie and Abigail Breslin, has not announced a release date.

Insights

How will Val Kilmer's posthumous AI performance reshape Hollywood's strict rules on digital resurrection and actor consent?
Will audiences accept a synthesized Val Kilmer, or does this AI-generated priest cross the line from heartfelt tribute into the uncanny valley?