{"id":3551,"date":"2026-04-12T20:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/3551\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:59:14","slug":"where-does-acting-stop-and-ai-start-val-kilmers-artificial-resurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/3551\/","title":{"rendered":"Where does acting stop and AI start?: Val Kilmer\u2019s artificial resurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Val Kilmer, who was struggling with medical treatments at the time of his passing last April following his throat cancer diagnosis in 2015, was cast in \u201cAs Deep as the Grave\u201d almost six years ago. Since he was too sick to ever make it to set, Director Coerte Voorhees used generative artificial intelligence (AI)tools to bring his vision of Kilmer\u2019s role back to life.<\/p>\n

\"\"Director Coerte Voorhees felt Kilmer was the only one who could play the role despite stating Kilmer was \u201cgoing through a really, really tough time medically.\u201d Photo courtesy of IMDB<\/p>\n

Posthumous acting roles aren\u2019t a new idea, with a recent mainstream example being Paul Walker\u2019s appearance in \u201cFast X.\u201d A combination of computer generated imagery (CGI) and archival footage from \u201cFast Five,\u201d another movie in the \u201cFast & Furious\u201d series, was used to pay tribute to Walker and his character in the movies.<\/p>\n

The difference between this use of CGI and Kilmer\u2019s resurrection is that Kilmer never actually appeared on set.<\/p>\n

Kilmer passed away from pneumonia on April 1, 2025, and due to medical complications, couldn\u2019t show up to any of his scenes in \u201cAs Deep as the Grave.\u201d Voorhees said the film \u201cwas very much designed around him<\/a>,\u201d and according to Voorhees, Kilmer\u2019s family and estate expressed how important the film was to Kilmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a statement from SAG-AFTRA<\/a>, consent from Kilmer\u2019s family was obtained to artificially generate all scenes showing the late actor. In other words, this is a legal portrayal of Kilmer\u2019s likeness; however, the public is less open to this idea of an artificial resurrection. Voorhees knew that this decision would come with controversy but wants \u201cAs Deep as the Grave\u201d to set a precedent for ethical AI use in films.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Kilmer has been involved in an AI-related project. Following Kilmer\u2019s treatment for throat cancer, his voice was left broken and raspy. After the release of a documentary about Kilmer\u2019s health struggles, \u201cVal,\u201d an AI voice platform, Sonantic<\/a>, set out to digitally recreate Kilmer\u2019s voice for future endeavors. Similar to Walker, Kilmer\u2019s voice was digitally revived using old audio of him speaking pre-cancer treatment.<\/p>\n

\"\"SAG-AFTRA, or the Screen Actors Guild\u2013American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, requires that consent from the family or estate be obtained to use the digital, or in Kilmer\u2019s case, artificial, likeness of actors. Photo courtesy of SAG-AFTRA.<\/p>\n

Kilmer later said in a statement<\/a>, \u201c[T]he ability to communicate is the core of our existence and the effects from throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me. The chance to tell my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

After which, Kilmer pleaded <\/a>to the producers of the then in-production film, \u201cTop Gun: Maverick,\u201d to recast him in the film to reprise his role from the original \u2013 further supporting the thought that Kilmer kept wanting to express himself in film, despite his health complications.<\/p>\n

The production of \u201cAs Deep as the Grave\u201d has been prolonged by the COVID-19 pandemic and the troubles that arise from being an indie production. The budget once became such an issue that scenes involving Kilmer\u2019s character, Father Fintan, were going to be cut; however, Voorhees later decided the scenes were vital to the narrative. \u201cNormally we would just recast an actor,\u201d Voorhees said, \u201cbut we can\u2019t roll [the] camera again. We don\u2019t have the budget. We\u2019re not a big studio film. So we had to think of innovative ways to do it. And we realized the technology is there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate on whether to use AI, CGI, or any sort of digital resurrections is one with no end in sight. With the addition of loosely regulated and frighteningly new technology, such as generative AI, viewers are left to come up with their own opinions on Kilmer\u2019s revival, only adding further complications to the dilemma.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The film is expected to be released in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Val Kilmer, who was struggling with medical treatments at the time of his passing last April following his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3468,24,3469,25,3470,3471,3472,3473,2638,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-3551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-acting","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-ai-movies","11":"tag-artificial-intelligence","12":"tag-bexley","13":"tag-capital-students","14":"tag-capital-university","15":"tag-columbus","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-ohio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}