The film world mourned the loss of Val Kilmer last year. The beloved actor, known for iconic roles in 1980s and 90s films like Top Gun, Tombstone, and The Doors, passed away at 65 after a ten-year struggle with throat cancer, with pneumonia listed as the official cause of death. Despite his diagnosis, Kilmer continued to work in Hollywood, leaving a lasting impact on the industry into the 21st century. His final role was a memorable return as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.
Following his cancer diagnosis, Val Kilmer passionately supported the use of artificial intelligence, frequently highlighting its potential benefits in filmmaking. He actively put this belief into practice with Top Gun: Maverick, where the team used AI to recreate his voice for his few lines of dialogue alongside Tom Cruise. Now, even after his passing, Kilmer’s enthusiasm for this technology is evident in a new project that once again features the celebrated actor.
Director Coerte Voorhees debuted the trailer for his upcoming film, As Deep as the Grave, at CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas. The movie tells the story of archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris (played by Abigail Lawrie and Tom Felton) and their 1920s discovery of Ancestral Puebloan remains. A unique aspect of the film is the use of AI to recreate the late Val Kilmer, who portrays Father Fintan, a priest and Native American spiritualist. Kilmer appears throughout the trailer, and the final scene features him saying, “Don’t fear the dead, and don’t fear me.”
Val Kilmer was chosen for the film long before it was made, but his health wasn’t good enough to film his scenes when production started in November 2020. According to the director, Kilmer felt a strong connection to the role and was eager to share the story of Ann Morris, a pioneering female archaeologist. Because the director wrote the part with Kilmer in mind, he collaborated with Kilmer’s family to include him in the movie using artificial intelligence. Kilmer’s children have publicly supported this decision, stating that their father was determined to be involved in the film even when he was too ill to perform.
Look, this whole thing with digitally recreating Val Kilmer’s voice has been a big debate, and I get why. But the filmmaker, Voorhees, has been pretty upfront – he didn’t want to imitate Kilmer, but rather create a performance inspired by him. A big part of his reasoning was wanting the support of Kilmer’s family, which is totally understandable. Honestly, it’s a little scary to think this could become a common thing in movies, but it’s new ground, and we’re going to have to watch closely how it develops over the next few years. It’s uncharted territory, that’s for sure.
The novel As Deep as the Grave is currently scheduled for release in 2026, though the exact date hasn’t been announced yet.
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2026-04-17 22:20