Mercedes Kilmer is tired of your biological sentimentality. The daughter of the legendary Val Kilmer is defending her father’s AI-generated appearance in the new indie film, “As Deep as the Grave,” arguing that we must “contend with this technology one way or the other.” Kilmer, who famously lost his voice to cancer in 2014, had already pioneered the use of Sonantic voice tech for his return as Iceman in 2022, but this new project goes further into the digital afterlife.

The film was “very much designed around him,” according to director Coerte Voorhees, who worked closely with the family to ensure the resurrection was handled with the appropriate level of status. Kilmer’s daughter insists her father always viewed emerging technology with optimism—as a tool to expand the limits of what a person can do when their body fails them. In the Ghost Era, being deceased is no longer a valid excuse for missing a premiere.

This is the ultimate Veblen good: a performance that requires no lunch breaks, no trailer, and no biological sweat. While SAG-AFTRA members scramble to tax these “Ghost Stars,” the elite are embracing the synthetic as a way to preserve the icons they love forever. Val Kilmer is no longer a man; he is a perfectly rendered asset, floating in a dark corner of the cinema, waiting for the audience to say something.