VAL KILMER AI CONTROVERSY: A Year After His Death, a Digital Replica of Star in New Movie Ignites Angry Fan Reactions
A new means of expression, or a shameful exploitation?
A year ago, in April 2025, Hollywood star Val Kilmer passed away, putting an end to a storied career – or so we thought.
The news arose yesterday that Kilmer – or at least an AI replica of him – is to appear in a new movie, As Deep as the Grave, by brothers Coerte and John Voorhees.
The pair had originally written one of the roles in the film for Val Kilmer.
The late Val Kilmer will appear in AI form in the upcoming indie movie As Deep as the Grave, which has the support of Kilmer’s estate (which was compensated) and his daughter Mercedes. https://t.co/gI88dHd8Bu pic.twitter.com/4aw9yrr1R3
— IGN (@IGN) March 18, 2026
The Telegraph reported:
“Mr. Kilmer’s cancer diagnosis forced him to abandon the project, and he died soon after in April 2025.
But now, using generative AI tools, a digital replica of Mr. Kilmer has been added into the movie. The AI-generated likeness was created from a trove of videos, images and audio recorded before Mr. Kilmer’s death.”
AI revives Val Kilmer for new film
Posthumous AI role for Val Kilmer
Kilmer’s AI role: ‘As deep as the role’@BislaDiksha gets you more pic.twitter.com/5SqlX3hIFj
— WION (@WIONews) March 19, 2026
“Mr. Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told The New York Times that her father ‘always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling… This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part’.”
VAL KILMER RESURRECTED BY AI – DEAD STAR BACK ON SCREEN!
Actor Val Kilmer passed last year.
Hollywood used AI to shove him into a new movie anyway.
Family said yes. Internet split.
Death is no longer a valid excuse to get out of your contract.
Hollywood wins again.
Source:… https://t.co/wi83JB5ABf pic.twitter.com/DSUkfD4xHz
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) March 19, 2026
Some Fans are reacting poorly to the news.
Fox News reported:
“’I do not care how much permission they had to do this, no one should be allowed to do this’, a [social media commenter] said. ‘It should be illegal to resurrect the visage of dead people with genAI imo’.
Someone else wrote, ‘No amount of moral dressing is going to change how sick and greedy this is. The family should be ashamed tbh.’
‘This is difficult, another person posted. ‘If Val wanted this, and desired to go with ‘one final hurray’, maybe it is acceptable. (When Oliver Reed died during Gladiator, they used a body double + light CGI to finish his scenes) But, when this becomes the norm…’”
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