The use of artificial intelligence to bring back dead actors on screen has been a hot topic in Hollywood for years. But the latest attempt has struck a nerve with movie lovers around the world.
A new trailer for the upcoming western film As Deep as the Grave just dropped at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 15, 2026. The movie features a digital version of Val Kilmer, the beloved star of Top Gun and Batman Forever who passed away in April 2025 at age 65. Kilmer died from pneumonia after a long battle with throat cancer.
The reaction from fans has been brutal. Many are calling the AI recreation creepy, disrespectful, and unnecessary. One comment on the trailer summed up the mood perfectly: “This sh*t sucks.”
Fans Call the Digital Resurrection a ‘Travesty’
The trailer for As Deep as the Grave is now online, and viewers are not holding back their feelings. The digital Kilmer appears multiple times throughout the preview, shown at different ages as his character Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist.
On YouTube, the comments section quickly filled with angry responses. One user wrote, “Val was a great actor – this digital resurrection is a travesty.” Another person called it, “Super creepy and weird.”
The criticism did not stop there. On Reddit, fans expressed deeper concerns about what this means for the film industry and for Kilmer’s memory. One Reddit user pointed out how the actor was handled with care in his final real role.
“You know how they just worked with his condition and honored him as he was in Maverick? That was nice. It made you recognize real things like love and mortality. But now I’m going to just remember this f***ing abomination lol.”
Another fan worried about the bigger picture for working actors. “This is bigger than him. It’s hard enough to get a job as an actor now, never mind when you’re competing with dead movie stars. This is further normalisation of AI taking human jobs.”
Kilmer’s Family Gave Their Approval to the Project
The filmmakers did not go behind the family’s back. Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes and son Jack both gave permission for the AI recreation. The family is also being paid for the use of his likeness and provided old video footage to help create the digital version.
Mercedes Kilmer defended the decision in a statement. She said her father always looked at new technology with an open mind.
“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.”
Kilmer himself had used AI technology while he was alive. After losing his natural speaking voice following throat cancer and two tracheotomies, he worked with a company called Sonantic to create a digital version of his voice. His voice was also altered with technology for his final appearance in Top Gun: Maverick.
The Filmmakers Say They Did Things the Right Way
Writer-director Coerte Voorhees and his brother John Voorhees, who produced the film, spoke at CinemaCon about their choice to use AI. They know the topic is sensitive but believe they followed the proper steps.
The producers said they followed the rules set by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) based on three main ideas: consent, compensation, and collaboration. Kilmer’s estate agreed to the project, is getting paid, and helped provide materials.
Coerte Voorhees was careful with his words about what viewers are actually seeing on screen. He did not call it a real Val Kilmer performance.
“Val Kilmer influenced this performance,” Coerte Voorhees said.
The movie originally cast Kilmer several years ago. The story follows real-life archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris in the 1920s as they explore Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. Kilmer was set to play Father Fintan, a priest suffering from tuberculosis who travels to the Southwest.
But Kilmer became too sick to film his scenes. The production had many stops and starts, including delays from the COVID pandemic. At one point, the filmmakers thought about cutting the character entirely. Later, they decided the story needed Father Fintan, so they approached Kilmer’s children with the AI idea.
“We were so glad they were so excited and so supportive of the idea,” Coerte Voorhees said. “We didn’t want to do it unless everybody thought this was going to work properly.”
The Trailer Shows More Than Just an AI Actor
Viewers have noticed something else about the trailer. Many scenes do not look real. Some people believe the filmmakers used AI to generate not just Kilmer’s character but also parts of the background, locations, and other visual elements.
One Reddit user wrote, “Parts of that opening scene in the snow are definitely AI generated, too.” Another person said, “The entire trailer looks like AI.”
This has raised even more questions about the movie’s authenticity. If the filmmakers used AI to create large parts of the film, what is left of real filmmaking? The debate is no longer just about bringing back a dead actor. It is about how much of the movie is actually real.
Kilmer Appears on Screen for a Long Time
The filmmakers revealed that Kilmer’s AI character is on screen for one hour and 17 minutes. The final runtime of the movie has not been shared yet, but the director said the film is long. That means a significant portion of the movie features a digital version of a dead actor.
The cast also includes Tom Felton (known for Harry Potter), Abigail Lawrie, Abigail Breslin, Wes Studi, Finn Jones, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and Ewen Bremner. The film does not have a distributor or release date yet, but the filmmakers hope to put it out sometime in 2026.
Also Read:
Hollywood’s AI Problem Is Not Going Away
The use of AI in movies was a major reason behind the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood. Actors and writers walked off the job for months because they worried studios would use technology to replace them. The strikes ended with new rules about AI, but the technology keeps moving forward.
This is not the first time a movie has used digital effects to include a dead actor. Furious 7 finished Paul Walker’s scenes after his death using his brothers as stand-ins and CGI. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story used CGI to bring back Peter Cushing for a small role. But those cases used motion capture and visual effects, not generative AI that creates a performance from nothing.
As Deep as the Grave goes further. Kilmer never shot any scenes for this movie. Every moment of his performance comes from AI trained on old videos and photos of the actor.
One Reddit user explained why this feels different. “I recognize that both Val Kilmer and the Kilmer family wanted this, but that does not make it something that should have been done. I doubt if I would have seen this film regardless but I definitely will not see it now.”
Another person raised a bigger question about how fans will remember Kilmer after this. “Very fitting that this trailer includes a scene where a corpse is unceremoniously yanked out of the ground,” read one top comment on the trailer.
The movie’s own tagline at the end of the trailer adds an uncomfortable layer to the whole situation. Kilmer’s digital character says, “Don’t fear the dead and don’t fear me.” For many fans, the fear is not about death. It is about watching technology replace real human performances in ways that feel wrong.
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