Val Kilmer is to posthumously appear in an action-adventure film, a year after his death from pneumonia – thanks to AI.
The company behind the movie, First Line Films, say it is the first-ever performance enabled by generative artificial intelligence.
The Top Gun star was originally cast in As Deep As The Grave five years ago but had been unable to work on set due to illness.
He will play Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist Father Fintan. Kilmer previously claimed Cherokee ancestry and was a vocal supporter of Native American rights.
The filmmakers say they have worked closely with Kilmer’s estate and his daughter, Mercedes.
They said in a press release: “At the time that he was cast, Kilmer expressed that the character of Fintan spoke to him both culturally and spiritually.”
Written and directed by Coloradan Coerte Voorhees, the film follows southwestern archaeologists Ann Morris, played by Tin Star actress Abigail Lawrie, and Harry Potter star Tom Felton.
It focuses on their excavations in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, also exploring the lives of the Navajo people.
First Line Films, which is based in New Mexico, has not revealed what technology it will be using, but described it as “state-of-the-art generative AI technology”.
Val Kilmer in Top Gun, 1986. Pic: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
In 2021, Kilmer used the AI voice platform Sonantic to develop an AI-generated version of his voice, which was permanently damaged after undergoing a tracheostomy for throat cancer.
It used archival audio Kilmer provided, and was used in the Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, in which Kilmer reprised his famous Iceman role.
As Deep as the Grave uses Kilmer’s voice from after his tracheostomy.
The movie, which is in post-production, is expected to be released later this year.
California-born Kilmer, who was one of the best-paid actors in the 1990s, had numerous spats with directors over the years, earning a reputation for being difficult to work with.
He famously admitted he had not been keen to take the role that made him famous, Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in Top Gun alongside Tom Cruise in 1986.
He also portrayed Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
Last year, the launch of the first fully AI-generated actor, Tilly Norwood, created waves in the entertainment industry, as it continues to grapple with innovations in AI threatening the roles of its workforce.
SAG-AFTRA, the US actors’ union, recently wrapped up a month of negotiations with the major studios without reaching a new deal.
Meanwhile, in the UK, members of the actors’ union Equity voted overwhelmingly to refuse digital scanning on set in a bid to secure adequate AI protections.
The AI debate has also impacted the music world, with plans to let AI firms use music without permission abandoned by the UK government earlier this week.
