Val Kilmer’s daughter explained why her family supports an AI-generated version of the late actor appearing in an upcoming movie, which has sparked a fierce debate in a Hollywood industry on edge about AI taking jobs from actors.
Mercedes Kilmer, 34, spoke on TODAY April 29 about an AI-generated version of the late star of “Top Gun,” “The Doors” and “Tombstone” appearing as Father Fintan, a priest and Native American spiritualist in the upcoming movie “As Deep as the Grave.”
She said her father “wanted to do this” out of a desire to create “structures for actors to own their licensing and to have rights.”
“My dad was very passionate that this is the time, before these laws are written, to make sure that there’s a structure for compensation, to make sure that actors get paid on par with what they would get paid if they were physically doing it, and if it creates more jobs in that way, that’s wonderful,” Kilmer told Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie.
“I think this is a really historic precedent, and I’m really proud of him,” she added. “It started off as something 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 precedent.’”
Val Kilmer spent 10 years being treated for throat cancer, which robbed him of his voice, before his death at 65 from pneumonia in April 2025.
Artificial intelligence was used to help re-create Kilmer’s voice for a heart-wrenching reunion scene with Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 2022 sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”
The technology created Kilmer’s character in “As Deep as the Grave” using recordings of his voice and archival footage and family photos.
“This is a character Val wanted to play. He was really clear about that before he passed,” John Voorhees, one of the film’s producers, told “Entertainment Tonight” on April 16.
The filmmakers told “ET” they followed SAG-AFTRA’s guidelines for “consent, compensation and collaboration” in the movie, which will come out later this year.
Mercedes Kilmer said on TODAY her father was initially offered “As Deep as the Grave” in 2018, but the project was stalled when the COVID pandemic began in 2020. He knew he wouldn’t be able to act in the film due to his health issues but wanted to be involved.
“The character speaks 1920s Navajo language, which is a language that they were able to sort of recover for the film, which is I think like a really ethical, interesting use of the technology,” his daughter said. “If we’re going to have this, we can make things that expand the possibilities of what we can do as humans, not replace them, if that makes sense.”
The inclusion of the AI-generated Kilmer character sparked a fierce debate in a Hollywood climate where actors and others in the industry are fearful the technology will threaten their livelihoods.
“I have gotten some negative comments,” Kilmer said. “It’s kind of fallen into two camps — people that maybe have a more precarious position in the industry are worried and see AI as a threat, which is absolutely valid. Younger actors and musicians — I’m a musician and a lot of people I know, we’re so scared of this technology.
“And then at the same time, I’ve gotten a lot of really good responses from people maybe more established in the industry that see it as a way to protect the actors’ ownership of their IP,” she added. “We have to contend with this technology one way or another and avoiding it is not necessarily the way. It’s much easier to structure the rights if you proactively license.”
Kilmer was asked if her family will use her father’s AI-generated image, voice and likeness for any future movies.
“No, because I wouldn’t just put his likeness in something without his permission, necessarily,” she said. “There are just certain things that he talked about, ways to use to it, that we may do eventually.”
She cited the example of using an AI version of the late actor for video games based on some of his famous characters from his career.
“Something like that could happen, and so now we know that we’re protected,” she said.
Kilmer’s role is not the first digital re-creation or AI-assisted performance in Hollywood. James Earl Jones allowed AI technology to replicate the voice of his iconic “Star Wars” character Darth Vader, the late Carrie Fisher was digitally resurrected in two “Star Wars” movies, and Harrison Ford was de-aged by AI in the most recent “Indiana Jones” movie.
Mercedes Kilmer was asked how this could affect the estates of late movie legends like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean as far as authorizing AI-generated versions of those icons for future works.
“I don’t know if I can speak to that because my dad knew about this project,” she said. “This project gave us an opportunity to make sure if someone in the future uses his likeness unauthorized, we can say, ‘Oh no, look, this is what you’re supposed to do.'”
Val Kilmer fans will get to see the beloved late actor in a new film one year after his passing from throat cancer. Val had been cast in the film “As Deep as the Grave” but was too sick to shoot, so AI technology was used to create his performance.
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