AI Val Kilmer western revives the AI actor debate

A new western puts an AI-created version of a young Val Kilmer on screen, and the Guardian reported on October 20 that the performance has revived the argument over whether synthetic actors can replace human stars.

The trailer for As Deep as the Grave shows what the Guardian calls an exact facsimile of a young Kilmer, the actor who died in April 2025. He plays Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, and tells a child, "Don't fear the dead and don't fear me." Director Coerte Voorhees cast Kilmer in the role five years before his death, but the actor was too ill with throat cancer to shoot a single scene.

What is As Deep as the Grave?

The film is an indie production, previously titled Canyon of the Dead, that took six years to finish through pandemic shutdowns. It retells the true story of Southwestern archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris and their excavations in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, with Abigail Lawrie and Tom Felton leading a cast that includes Wes Studi and Abigail Breslin. Kilmer appears in what Voorhees calls a significant part, roughly an hour of the running time, the Guardian reported in April.

Kilmer's estate and his daughter Mercedes approved the AI likeness, and Voorhees has said the production followed SAG-AFTRA guidelines and compensated the estate, Variety reported. The Guardian's Phil Hoad is unpersuaded: he describes the likeness as strangely rigid and notes it lacks Kilmer's voice.

The Guardian's feature places the film in a wider push. Higgsfield AI claims to have "eliminated" the uncanny valley and has released two full AI-generated features, Hell Grind (a 95-minute action fantasy) and The Cully Hill Boys (a 115-minute caper comedy). The second, written by human Tim Planagan, was assembled in 30-second chunks using Seedance 2.5, with each segment defined in a prompt of roughly 4,000 words. Higgsfield content lead Adil Alimzhanov, 23, is bullish. "We can't fight new tools simply because they transform industries," he said.

Other voices are more cautious. Tim Webber, chief creative officer at the VFX house Framestore, told the Guardian that "to get to the level where it's a human performance, where there's genuine emotion involved, is a long way further down." Tye Sheridan, co-founder of Wonder Dynamics and maker of Flow Studio, asks whether generative models are designed to deliver legendary performances or to cut to an average. The AI short maker Zack London, who works as Gossip Goblin, records dialogue with real actors first and animates around it.

The AI "starlet" Tilly Norwood is next, set for a feature-length debut in Misaligned; Emily Blunt earlier called Norwood "really, really scary." Hollywood's larger mood is shifting. Variety reported on October 13 that Acme Studios cut the cost of Doug Liman's film Bitcoin from $200 million to $70 million using AI, and the LA Times reported on October 16 that Culver City is filling with AI studios.

The teaser for As Deep as the Grave is on YouTube, and Higgsfield's Hell Grind and The Cully Hill Boys are online-only releases.