Archival footage and past performances by Val Kilmer have been assembled to recreate his likeness for a role in As Deep as the Grave. He has, in a sense, been brought back to the screen — not resurrected, but digitally reconstructed using artificial intelligence or AI.

Kilmer, who starred in memorable roles throughout his lengthy film career, as Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever, Jim Morrison in The Doors, Simon Templar in The Saint, and Iceman in Top Gun, will play the role of Father Fintan in the film. 

It is unusual for an actor to take on a role without filming a single scene. Kilmer passed away on April 1, 2025. Writer-director Coerte Voorhees told Variety that the actor was cast in the film five years before his death, from pneumonia. When it came time to film, the actor was too ill to perform.

Kilmer’s role in As Deep as the Grave “was very much designed around him,” Voorhees said. “It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest. I was looking at a call sheet the other day, and we had him ready to shoot. He was just going through a really, really tough time medically, and he couldn’t do it.”

To bring Kilmer’s performance to life, the production combines archival images and footage from different stages of his life using AI-assisted visual modelling techniques. 

Voorhees’ decision to include a digital replica of the actor was made with the blessing of Kilmer’s family and estate. His daughter Mercedes and son Jack Kilmer were very much onboard. They supported the approach and indicated that their father would have wanted to be part of the production.

Previously titled Canyon Del Muerto and sometimes referred to as Canyon of the Dead, the film is based on a real-life story, starring BAFTA winner Abigail Lawrie and actor Tom Felton of Harry Potter fame as archaeologists Ann Axtell Morris and Earl Morris and their work tracing Indigenous history in the United States in the 1920s. The film was shot in the stunningly beautiful Canyon de Chelly. The IMDb description reads: “Two archaeologists seek out the Canyon of the Dead and the dead find them.”

Killers of the Flower Moon actor Tatanka Means plays Seechi, a leading role in the film. Kilmer is noted as Digital Performer, Various, in the role of Father Fintan.

Kilmer was open about his battle with throat cancer after he was diagnosed with the illness in 2014. He opened up about the struggles he was facing on his website, saying that his voice and throat were severely damaged due to radiation and chemotherapy interventions. 

The film, which is planned for release this year, is expected to adapt not only his image but also elements of his voice. This approach echoes earlier work in the reprisal of his Iceman character in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, where technology was used to alter his voice. Kilmer also used an assistive device to speak in order to be understood in real life.

The character he portrays suffers from tuberculosis. The filmmakers suggest the character’s illness mirrors Kilmer’s real-life condition, creating a “bridge” between actor and role, according to Variety. It’s an interesting idea that illness, voice, and character can align to make a performance feel more authentic, despite the considerable artifice involved in creating it.

The film was delayed in part by pandemic shutdowns. As an independent production, it faced budget constraints, which may have influenced the decision to use AI.

A Digital Body in a Spiritual Role

At the centre of the film is a tension between belief and machinery. The story is tied to Indigenous heritage and ancestry and Kilmer plays a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist—a figure rooted in spirituality. Kilmer’s performance, however, is constructed through AI, which highlights the uneasy coexistence between spirituality and technology.

The actor’s voice and physical presence are disconnected from him. He had no direct control over this performance during production. What appears onscreen is a simulation: a presence constructed from data, fragments, and binary code, albeit guided by human intention.

Some claim that AI strips artists of creativity, but it’s worth remembering that all of Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood is make-believe — sets, scripts, edits, effects — and that onscreen performance has always been constructed. AI simply makes this collaboration between creators more visible because it’s new.

Creativity is increasingly shifting into the hands of artistic directors, cinematographers, digital creators, coders, and designers. Future credit for artistry will be shared with them rather than resting primarily with the performer as technology opens up new categories for artists and new opportunities in filmmaking.

The Ethics of a Posthumous Role

Kilmer stars in a film despite never having filmed a single scene when he was alive. His onscreen presence is built entirely from archival images, footage, and a reconstructed voice. 

While posthumous releases exist in music and literature such as the Stieg Larsson series of books that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, albums by Michael Jackson or Mac Miller, film is different. Our expectations of it are different. Traditionally, acting has required the performer to be physically present during production.

Now, a performance can be constructed from archived material, digitally generated expressions, and a cloned voice, raising the question of whether physical presence itself is becoming optional in filmmaking. 

This is where ethical concerns come into focus, and where debate, rather than outrage, may be more useful. 

It also raises a broader question: how new is this kind of filmmaking, really?

Kilmer’s Art Goes Beyond Filmmaking

Kilmer’s role places As Deep as the Grave into a new category of filmmaking, signalling potential shifts in how technology can be used in the industry. The artist did not publicly license his likeness as some actors have, but he did work with AI voice technology before his death. 

His art didn’t stop at acting. He embraced it all — “literature, movies, poetry, painting, music, or tracking exotic and beautiful wildlife in the most remote African bush, to capture ephemeral moments with a camera.” 

He also worked with many digital artists in an attempt to share his creativity, and theirs, with like-minded people, starting with a physical art gallery. He built a studio in Hollywood, which quickly filled with giant collages of himself and artists like David Bowie, charcoal drawings by Eric Nash, Polynesian pop art by Bosko Hrnjak and many other bright young minds as well as his own work.

Inspired by his time living in New Mexico, Kilmer really wanted to create a space for artists to gather, but his plans were thwarted by the pandemic. Instead of giving up, he created Kamp Kilmer, a digital space where artists were still able to inspire “evolution of the arts through technology and connectivity.”

He then ventured into NFT or non-fungible tokens, which uses blockchain technology to certify ownership and authenticity. Artwork from his installation series GOD Panel, where Kilmer seems to ask the audience to contemplate their spirituality by reflecting on the word “GOD” written in bright, bold colours on a panel, is available as NFT-certified digital works. Artists are able to merge individual pieces together to create a unique piece of art, Kilmer told NFT Now. 

His inspiration to create art was amplified when his voice was compromised. Considering his embrace of technology, his onscreen presence feels less like a technological intrusion and more like an actor adapting to overcome limitations, extending his creative influence beyond traditional boundaries — even beyond his lifetime.

Feature image created with AI.