By India McCarty
People around the world criticized the decision to digitally “resurrect” the late Val Kilmer for an upcoming movie.
“He was the actor I wanted to play this role,” Coerte Voorhees, the writer and director of AS DEEP AS THE GRAVE, 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.”
However, Kilmer, who was battling throat cancer at the time of production, was unable to play the part.
“I was looking at a call sheet the other day, and we had him ready to shoot,” Voorhees said. “He was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it.”
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Despite the fact that Kilmer didn’t shoot anything for DEEP AS THE GRAVE, Voorhees was able to bring the actor to life with generative AI.
“His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this,” he said. “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 some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.”
While Voorhees and Kilmer’s family might be in support of this, many fans of the late actor have voiced their displeasure.
“Did he say he was cool with this kinda thing before he died? If not, probably a gross thing to do,” one person wrote on X, while another commented, “I do not care how much permission they had to do this, no one should be allowed to do this. It should be illegal to resurrect the visage of dead people with genAI imo [in my opinion].”
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes has shared her support for Voorhees’ use of AI to bring her father back to the big screen.
“My father was a deeply spiritual man and this story of discovery and enlightenment in the American Southwest and his unique role in it really resonated with him,” she said in a statement. “He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling. This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”
While Kilmer’s family is in support of this digital version of the actor, many view the AI Kilmer as distasteful and a disappointing look at where Hollywood might be heading.
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