{"id":588057,"date":"2026-04-16T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588057\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:38:21","slug":"cinemacon-ai-generated-val-kilmer-movie-debuts-trailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588057\/","title":{"rendered":"CinemaCon: AI-generated Val Kilmer movie debuts trailer"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 The filmmakers behind \u201cAs Deep as the Grave,\u201d<\/a> the indie film that is using an artificial intelligence-rendered version of Val Kilmer<\/a> in a prominent role, debuted a first look at the recreated actor Wednesday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t fear the dead and don\u2019t fear me,\u201d Kilmer\u2019s character, Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, says at the end of the trailer.<\/p>\n

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\"Val<\/p>\n

Val Kilmer poses for a portrait, Jan. 9, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Mark Humphrey, File)<\/p>\n

Val Kilmer poses for a portrait, Jan. 9, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Mark Humphrey, File)<\/p>\n

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The actor died last year at 65, of pneumonia. The use of generative AI to recreate Kilmer for the historical drama based on archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris became a hot button topic when the filmmakers announced it last month. The trailer shows Kilmer\u2019s character at various ages. <\/p>\n

Writer-director Coerte Voorhees, along with his brother John, spoke on a panel Wednesday about the controversial decision to use technology to create a performance from a deceased actor and explained why they feel they\u2019ve done it ethically by working with Kilmer\u2019s children and the actors union. Coerte Voorhees stopped short of calling it a Val Kilmer performance, however.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cVal Kilmer influenced this performance,\u201d Coerte Voorhees said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Coerte<\/p>\n

Coerte Voorhees, second from left, writer\/director of the upcoming film \u201cAs Deep as the Grave,\u201d discusses the film with John Tsosie of Navajo Nation, second from right, and producer John Voorhees, far right, and moderator Brent Lang at CinemaCon 2026 on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/p>\n

Coerte Voorhees, second from left, writer\/director of the upcoming film \u201cAs Deep as the Grave,\u201d discusses the film with John Tsosie of Navajo Nation, second from right, and producer John Voorhees, far right, and moderator Brent Lang at CinemaCon 2026 on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/p>\n

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Producer John Voorhees said the use of AI actors<\/a> based on real people is risky territory for anyone to venture into but emphasized that they followed guidelines from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union that he boiled down to \u201cconsent, compensation and collaboration.\u201d Kilmer\u2019s estate, including his daughter Mercedes, gave permission for his digital replication, is being compensated for it and provided archival footage to help the process.<\/p>\n

They also compared Kilmer\u2019s AI-rendered performance to any actor portraying a historical figure on screen, as Kilmer once did with Jim Morrison in \u201cThe Doors.\u201d<\/a> Kilmer also utilized AI while he was alive. When he lost his natural speaking voice following a throat cancer diagnosis and two tracheotomies, he turned to an AI software company to digitally recreate his voice. Kilmer\u2019s voice was also digitally altered to help his final screen performance in \u201cTop Gun: Maverick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kilmer had signed on to \u201cAs Deep as the Grave\u201d years ago; Much of the film was structured around his character, they said. When Kilmer had to pull out at the last minute due to health issues they decided to proceed shooting without the character instead of recasting the role. The production had numerous stops and starts as one of the first to begin shooting in New Mexico in the fall of 2020 amid the pandemic. They realized later that the story really did need Father Fintan, and decided to broach the topic with Kilmer\u2019s children, Mercedes and Jack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so glad they were so excited and so supportive of the idea,\u201d Coerte Voorhees said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to do it unless everybody thought this was going to work properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that Kilmer is on screen in the movie for one hour and 17 minutes; The final runtime was not revealed but he said it\u2019s long. The filmmakers plan to release it sometime this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 The filmmakers behind \u201cAs Deep as the Grave,\u201d the indie film that is using…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,2224,2356,3827,257092,88,793,257094,257093,206,1058,3828,3833,1060,74,12362,795,96183],"class_list":["post-588057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-california","tag-domestic-news","tag-earl-morris","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-jim-morrison","tag-john-voorhees","tag-movies","tag-nevada","tag-new-mexico","tag-nm-state-wire","tag-nv-state-wire","tag-technology","tag-theater","tag-u-s-news","tag-val-kilmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}