Val Kilmer’s AI Movie Trailer Reveals Major Problem With AI Actors

There’s something deeply wrong with the recent trailer for As Deep as the Grave, also known as the Val Kilmer AI movie.

As Deep as the Grave is a new historical drama movie that is written and directed by Coerte Voorhees. Kilmer was originally cast as Father Fintan, “a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist,” per Variety, in 2020; however, he was too sick to film his role due to his cancer diagnosis. Kilmer passed away in April 2025 at the age of 65.

The creative team behind As Deep as the Grave, however, decided to use generative AI to include Kilmer in the finished film. This was done with the cooperation of Kilmer’s estate and his daughter, Mercedes.

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

Why is the Val Kilmer AI movie trailer so terrible?

We have to take Mercedes at her word that Val Kilmer would have wanted to be included in As Deep as the Grave via AI; whether that’s the full story or if there’s more to it is something for the estate and the people involved with this film to figure out. It’s interesting that Mercedes’ statement doesn’t actually mention AI and just states Kilmer’s views on “emerging technologies,” but, again, that doesn’t necessarily need to be the public’s business.

It doesn’t change the fact that it’s still morally bankrupt. There is only one Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer was not here to sign off on how his likeness is being portrayed in this movie. This movie wants you to think that this is Val Kilmer in this role. So, the movie has essentially decided it has the right to speak on behalf of Val Kilmer, or that it gets to have the last word on how people will view him and the character he “plays” in this movie. Which, you know, is morally grey, at best. Even if we’re assuming the filmmakers are approaching this with the best intentions, this is not a practice we need to be cheering on.

Of course, this is just one point out of a hundred regarding why AI is unethical — to go through the whole list would require a novel, or perhaps a series of novels, rather than just an article.

But let’s step away from the ethics of it all and focus on a different point: It just looks kind of bad. Many have complained about studios using CGI to either de-age or resurrect dead actors; Alien: Romulus and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story are two pretty commonly cited examples. This looks worse. It’s uncanny and not convincing, to the point where — unless this has a script that just, like, blows everyone’s minds — it seems likely audiences are going to be hyper-focused on Kilmer’s character not actually being a real person rather than the actual story or themes of the movie.

There was no real reason to do this, in short. Kilmer was a wonderful, wonderful actor whose presence will forever be missed in Hollywood. But this is not the way to honor the man.

Source: Comingsoon.net