Anyone who is close to AI in their professional life will tell you it is simultaneously amazing, frightening, and not infallible, so it requires human supervision. Those same people will, quietly and deep down, also have a list of professions in their head that they know will eventually be on life support when this thing really starts to motor.
In the world of entertainment and media, we are almost definitely looking at porn stars and bit-part actors being first to go.
Already, there are adverts on TV where the animation was produced by AI. There was an advertisement online for a popular toothpaste a couple of days ago that purportedly featured real people, but the trained eye could pick them out as AI creations. That was two struggling actors not getting paid.
A-listers undoubtedly have more time, but bit by bit, the creeping doom approaches them, too. Enabled, in part, by those who have already passed.
The late Top Gun actor Val Kilmer passed away last year. He was cast in Coerte Voorhees’ As Deep as the Grave in 2020 in the role of Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist. Due to Kilmer’s cancer, he never got to complete a shot.
Now, he will complete his role with the help of AI.
Voorhees spoke to Variety and said that the movie was designed around Kilmer and his Native American heritage, and his love of the Southwest. His health just took a turn for the worse as the shooting was supposed to get underway. Now, to finish the film, Voorhees has used generative AI to include Kilmer. This was done with permission from Kilmer’s children, Mercedes and Jack:
“His family kept saying how important they thought the movie was and that Val really wanted to be a part of this. He really thought it was important story that he wanted his name on. It was that support that gave me the confidence to say, okay let’s do this. Despite the fact some people might call it controversial, this is what Val wanted.
He always looked at emerging technologies with optimism as a tool to expand the possibilities of storytelling. This spirit is something that we are all honoring within this specific film, of which he was an integral part.”
As Deep as the Grave is the true story of Southwestern archaeologists Ann and Earl Morris and their excavations in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. They were tracing the history of the Navajo. Abigail Lawrie, Tom Felton, Wes Studi, and Abigail Breslin star in the film. Kilmer’s voice and younger appearance will be used as the basis for this AI generation.
