LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� The filmmakers behind the indie film that is using an artificial intelligence-rendered version of in a prominent role, debuted a first look at the recreated actor Wednesday at .
鈥淒on鈥檛 fear the dead and don鈥檛 fear me,鈥� Kilmer鈥檚 character, Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, says at the end of the trailer.
The actor died last year at 65, of pneumonia. The use of generative AI to recreate Kilmer for the historical drama based on archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris became a hot button topic when the filmmakers announced it last month. The trailer shows Kilmer鈥檚 character at various ages.
Writer-director Coerte Voorhees, along with his brother John, spoke on a panel Wednesday about the controversial decision to use technology to create a performance from a deceased actor and explained why they feel they’ve done it ethically by working with Kilmer’s children and the actors union. Coerte Voorhees stopped short of calling it a Val Kilmer performance, however.
鈥淰al Kilmer influenced this performance,鈥� Coerte Voorhees said.
Producer John Voorhees said the use of based on real people is risky territory for anyone to venture into but emphasized that they followed guidelines from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union that he boiled down to 鈥渃onsent, compensation and collaboration.鈥� Kilmer鈥檚 estate, including his daughter Mercedes, gave permission for his digital replication, is being compensated for it and provided archival footage to help the process.
They also compared Kilmer’s AI-rendered performance to any actor portraying a historical figure on screen, as Kilmer once did with Kilmer also utilized AI while he was alive. When he lost his natural speaking voice following a throat cancer diagnosis and two tracheotomies, he turned to an AI software company to digitally recreate his voice. Kilmer鈥檚 voice was also digitally altered to help his final screen performance in 鈥淭op Gun: Maverick.鈥�
Kilmer had signed on to 鈥淎s Deep as the Grave鈥� years ago; Much of the film was structured around his character, they said. When Kilmer had to pull out at the last minute due to health issues they decided to proceed shooting without the character instead of recasting the role. The production had numerous stops and starts as one of the first to begin shooting in New Mexico in the fall of 2020 amid the pandemic. They realized later that the story really did need Father Fintan, and decided to broach the topic with Kilmer鈥檚 children, Mercedes and Jack.
鈥淲e were so glad they were so excited and so supportive of the idea,鈥� Coerte Voorhees said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to do it unless everybody thought this was going to work properly.鈥�
He said that Kilmer is on screen in the movie for one hour and 17 minutes; The final runtime was not revealed but he said it鈥檚 long. The filmmakers plan to release it sometime this year.
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