Val Kilmer to Be Resurrected with AI for New Film Role: ‘This Is What Val Wanted’

Image via Buena Vista Pictures.

Val Kilmer passed away in 2025, but he will be appearing in an upcoming film through an AI-generated performance that was conducted with the blessings of his family.

During his decades-long career, Kilmer starred in numerous iconic roles in films that included Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, Heat, and Batman Forever. He died at the age of 65 on April 1, 2025 after a long battle with throat cancer.

In one of his final roles, Kilmer reprised his role as Iceman in 2022’s sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. The filmmakers digitally enhanced his voice to improve its clarity, as the chemotherapy, tracheotomies, and other procedures had reduced his voice to a rasp.

Five years before his death, Kilmer was cast as Father Fintan in As Deep as the Grave, written and directed by Coerte Voorhees, but “was too sick to ever make it to set,” reported Variety. Instead, his appearance in the film will be accomplished entirely by “using state-of-the-art generative AI.”

A first look at the AI-generated Kilmer was shared by the filmmakers with Variety, as seen below.

“He was the actor I wanted to play this role,” said Voorhees. “It was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest.”

Voorhees emphasized that Kilmer had really wanted to participate in the filming, but “was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it,” and once he had the blessing of the actor’s children Mercedes Kilmer and Jack Kilmer, he felt comfortable moving forward with AI.

“His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this,” Voorhees told Variety. “He really thought it was an important story that he wanted his name on. It was that support that gave me the confidence to say, okay let’s do this. Despite the fact that some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.”

John Voorhees, the producer of the film and the director’s brother, pointed out that Kilmer’s character in the film, which is based on a true story, “suffers from tuberculosis,” so “this historical character mirrored Val’s actual condition when he was suffering from throat cancer. And so when it comes to the voice this is a really unique opportunity for the character to reflect the condition that the actor was actually suffering from, thus creating a kind of a bridge.”

According to Variety’s report, the filmmakers used “younger images of Kilmer, many of them provided by his family, and footage from his final years to show his character in various stages of his life,” along with recordings of his voice.

Kilmer had engaged in creating recordings of his voice with AI company Sonantic before his passing, saying at the time that he was “grateful” for the opportunity, calling it “an incredibly special gift” to be able to “narrate my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar.”

Variety noted the Voorhees brothers were very aware of the “heated debate” about AI and worries in the filmmaking community who feared it would eliminate jobs and actors’ likenesses could be misappropriated without their consent, but still had “hope” their film could be an example for ethical AI use, as they sought permission, compensated Kilmer’s estate, and followed SAG guidelines.

Mercedes Kilmer issued a statement declaring the family’s support for As Deep as the Grave, calling her father “a deeply spiritual man” who was drawn to the film because he viewed it as a “story of discovery and enlightenment.”

“He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling,” she said. “This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”

As Deep as the Grave tells the story of Ann and Earl Morris, a real-life married pair of archaeologists who conducted important work in the early twentieth century tracing the history of the Navajo people in Arizona. The film also stars Abigail Lawrie and Tom Felton as the Morrises, along with Wes Studi, Abigail Breslin, and Finn Jones in other key roles.

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