Val Kilmer`s daughter Mercedes has come out in defence of the late Hollywood star`s AI-generated appearance in the upcoming indie film As Deep as the Grave, saying the technology offered her father a chance to set a precedent on actors owning their digital likeness.
Kilmer, who died last year after battling throat cancer, was cast as Father Finton, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist in the historical drama, but was too ill to shoot his role.
With the cooperation of his estate and Mercedes, the filmmakers used generative AI to include him in the film, in which his character appears for over an hour, according to director Coerte Voorhees.
Speaking on the “Today Show”, Mercedes said the project had evolved well beyond a workaround for her father`s illness.
“It started off as a way to overcome the limitations of his illness, but then it evolved into something that he really was like, `Oh, wait. I have a chance to actually set a precedent,`” she said.
She acknowledged the mixed reaction to her father`s AI recreation.
“It`s kind of fallen into two camps. People that maybe have a more precarious position in the industry and are worried and see AI as a threat – which is absolutely valid – and younger people, younger actors and musicians.”
Mercedes, who is a musician, said she understood the anxiety but argued that engaging with the technology proactively was preferable to avoiding it.
“We have to contend with this technology one way or the other. And avoiding it, it`s not necessarily the way. It`s much easier to structure the rights if you proactively license something,” she said.
It is not the first time Kilmer has turned to AI to navigate the effects of his illness. Diagnosed with cancer in 2014, he had previously partnered with UK-based company Sonantic to create an AI-powered voice when he reprised his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.
The trailer for As Deep as the Grave — which tells the story of Ann Axtell Morris, one of America`s first female archeologists, and her excavation of the Canyon De Chelly in Arizona — was recently unveiled at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
In it, Kilmer appears at various ages, including as a ghost-like figure and as a young man.
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