The first images of late film star Val Kilmer returning to the big screen through the use of AI were unveiled in Las Vegas this week.

The first images of the late film star Val Kilmer, as one of the new AI actors, returning to the big screen through the use of AI were unveiled in Las Vegas this week. 

He appears as a priest in the trailer for the new movie 'As Deep As The Grave'.

Film critic and host of Screenland podcast Brian Lloyd questioned whether actors should be brought back to life for a film using generative AI. 

Mr Lloyd told The Hard Shoulder the decision was ‘distasteful. 

“There is no ethical use case for this whatsoever. Let him be dead”, he said. 

“Are we so hard up for actors that we can't find another actor to take the role and give an actual performance that a human can watch and get something out of instead of just a bunch of sprites and pixels slopped together?

“Even if it were to look good, it’s still horrible.  There is still no ethical, moral, any kind of reason for making this or doing this at all.”

He said the process was like “thievery and plagiarism” and a disregard of capable actors available to take roles. 

The late Top Gun actor had been battling throat cancer and never participated in the shooting of the movie ‘As Deep as The Grave’. 

His performance in the movie was entirely created through generative AI as a result. 

The production has not gone into specifics in terms of the kind of generative AI used. 

Kilmer’s family was involved in the process with his daughter Mercedes Kilmer saying her father was interested in emerging technologies and would have been in favour. 

Val Kilmer.

Similar initiatives were done in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Star Wars: Rogue One. 

Actor Oliver Reed has passed away during production Gladiator leaving Scott to use outcuts and very judicious editing to make it seem like he was still in the film. 

For the Star Wars novella, a character from the original 1977 film, Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing was brought back by fitting cameras around English actor Guy Henry’s face and editing in post-production. 

In 2025,  Xicoia, the AI division of Particle6 Group, a production company founded by comedian Eline Van der Velden, revealed the first ever 100% AI actress named Tilly Norwood.

Main Image: Val Kilmer in 'As Deep Ss The Grave'.