The filmmakers behind “As Deep as the Grave” have debuted the trailer for the upcoming historical drama, giving viewers a first look at the AI technology that was used to create Val Kilmer‘s performance.
Kilmer, who died in 2025 after battling throat cancer, was cast as Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, but was too sick to shoot his role. With the cooperation of Kilmer’s estate and his daughter Mercedes, the “As Deep as the Grave” team used generative AI to include the actor in the finished film.
Kilmer pops up numerous times in a trailer first shared on Wednesday at CinemaCon, the exhibition industry trade show being held this week in Las Vegas. The footage includes Kilmer at various ages — at one point, he’s a spectral, ghost-like figure; at another, he’s a dashing, 30-something man of the cloth.
“Don’t fear the dead and don’t fear me,” Kilmer tells a child at one point, kneeling down to look her straight in the eyes.
Coerte Voorhees, the film’s writer and director, and John Voorhees, the film’s producer and Coerte’s brother, argue that they have found an ethical way to use the controversial technology, because they have worked in concert with Kilmer’s family. They note that the film, which tells the story of Ann Axtell Morris, one of this country’s first female archeologists, and her excavation of the Canyon De Chelly in Arizona, resonated strongly with Kilmer.
““It was very much designed around him,” Coerte Voorhees told Variety last month. “It drew on his Native American heritage and his ties to and love of the Southwest…His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this.”
There are fears in Hollywood that AI will eliminate acting jobs as studios search for ways to cut costs. But the “As Deep as the Grave” filmmakers insist that they only used the technology out of necessity and a deep desire to include Kilmer in their project. They also note that the production relied on SAG guidelines and compensated Kilmer’s estate for his appearance. The actor’s family provided archival material that the production used to create the performance.
In a statement, Mercedes Kilmer said that her father would have wanted to be included in “As Deep as the Grave.”
“He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling,” Mercedes Kilmer said. “This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”
Kilmer’s AI-generated presence will attract a lot of attention for “As Deep as the Grave,” but the trailer also boasts epic-looking action. There are excavations in dramatic cliffside settings, shots of buffalo running majestically along a plain and images of a car trying to pass through rapids. The ensemble includes Abigail Lawrie, Tom Felton, Abigail Breslin, Tatanka Means, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Wes Studi and Finn Jones.
Here’s an exclusive first look at “As Deep as the Grave”:
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