He has been dead for nearly a year, but Val Kilmer’s likeness will be used in a new film.
An artificial intelligence-generated version of the actor, who played Iceman in “Top Gun” and starred in films as Batman, singer Jim Morrison and gunslinger Doc Holliday, will appear in the upcoming movie, “As Deep as the Grave,” Variety reported.
First Line Films announced Wednesday that Kilmer has posthumously joined the film’s cast. Before his death last April 1 at the age of 65, Kilmer had signed to perform in the movie but was unable to honor the commitment because of his battles with throat cancer.
FIRST LOOK: Val Kilmer has been resurrected via AI to star in the new movie "As Deep as the Grave."
— Variety (@Variety) March 18, 2026
Kilmer was cast in the movie in 2020, five years before his death. But he was too sick amid his throat cancer battle to ever make it to set. Now an AI version of the actor is… pic.twitter.com/OjWHUdrsXn
Kilmer had been cast as a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist in the film. “As Deep as the Grave” also stars Abigail Lawrie, Tom Felton and Abigail Breslin.
“He was the actor I wanted to play this role,” the film’s writer and director, Coerte Voorhees, told Variety. “It was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest. I was looking at a call sheet the other day, and we had him ready to shoot. He was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it.”
Kilmer never shot a scene for the film, but Voorhees said the late actor’s estate gave permission for his digital replication, The Associated Press reported.
Kilmer’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, also gave her blessing. Voorhees said that Jack Kilmer, the actor’s son, was also supportive of his father’s AI role.
In a statement, Mercedes Kilmer said she supported the film, adding that her father was “a deeply spiritual man” who resonated with a “story of discovery and enlightenment.”
“He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling,” Mercedes Kilmer said. “This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”
Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, and needed two tracheotomies. After losing his voice, the actor used software generated by an AI company to digitally replicate his voice, the AP reported.
His voice was digitally generated in his film screen performance, the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“As Deep as the Grave” is based on the true story of Ann and Earl Morris, early 20th-century archaeologists, Variety reported. The couple helped excavate and document evidence of the Ancestral Puebloans in the American Southwest.
Actors have appeared in films posthumously before, NBC News reported. That includes Oliver Reed in “Gladiator,” Paul Walker in “Furious 7” and Carrie Fisher in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” But this appears to be the first time that AI technology is being used; previous cases have used techniques like computer-generated imagery (CGI) to superimpose the actor’s face onto a body double.
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