AI to recreate Val Kilmer for As Deep as the Grave

Val Kilmer died in April 2025, but filmmakers plan to use generative AI to recreate him for the fact-based film As Deep as the Grave. Variety revealed on March 18 that the digital Kilmer will play Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist — a role Kilmer had been set to play before his death.

Director Coerte Voorhees said he didn’t want to recast: “He was the actor I wanted to play this role.” He added that the part “was very much designed around him. It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest.” Voorhees says Kilmer was unable to shoot after falling ill, so the production chose “state-of-the-art” generative AI to recreate him, even though Kilmer never filmed a scene and has been dead for nearly a year.

Voorhees said Kilmer’s children and estate support the decision. “His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this,” he said, and that this backing gave him the confidence to proceed.

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