Val Kilmer is dead and will not be appearing. A simulacrum of Val Kilmer will.

“Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted,” Voorhees told Variety.

We’ll obviously never know for certain whether Kilmer himself would have approved of this project. His daughter Mercedes Kilmer said she supported the film, and noted that her father was “a deeply spiritual man” who resonated with a “story of discovery and enlightenment.”

So there is no evidence that this is what he would have wanted, and Voorhees just said that? When I read that first bit I thought maybe he’d given his blessing before his death, but apparently not. I obviously don’t know what he would have wanted, and I hope his family is correct, but even if he authorized it, I think it’s gross. I don’t like actors for their faces, I like what they bring to the role and AI at least currently does not have the ability to bring anything.

Companies will rob the graves of musicians and actors and say they are “appearing.”

Well, media is “appearing” in my hard drive a lot more these days.

This is kind of “content” that is not even worth being pirated.

Imagine transcending mortality to appear in some future commercial pushing some funko pop NFT pyramid scheme to produce shareholder value for people who claim net zero before they go jet setting to Epstein island because they bought a section of forest that was already there.

Wow. His family sounds lovely.

This was bound to happen. Just wait - if this goes unchecked it’ll just get baked into actors’ contracts.

Can’t wait. “Die Hard 10” with an AI Bruce Willis saving an AI Audrey Hepburn. Whatever industry this is, it’s gross.

“Kill… me…”

If that’s what Val Kilmer actually wanted, or agreed to, in sound mind, go for it.

We’ll never know what he actually did or didn’t want. I’ll probably never watch it.

James Earl Jones did it with his voice.

Edit: fixed link formatting.

Edi 2: added that voice bit