this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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A Boring Dystopia

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Kilmer passed away in 2025 after battling throat cancer. Apparently his character will feature in over an hour of the movie.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/val-kilmer-ai-generated-new-movie-rcna264195

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[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 143 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

They've finally done it. Even if You're dead, you still have to fucking go to work.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 56 points 3 weeks ago

Which was the point of the movie Robocop, and he got featured in the reboot of it.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The dead can't organize labor unions either.

[–] randamumaki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 73 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

So they're just making money over a dead guy's likeness. Business as usual then.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

He was going to play the role before he died, and they decided to use AI to recreate his likeness instead of recasting.

So not quite as ghoulish as you might think.

[–] NickeeCoco@piefed.social 49 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

How does that make it not ghoulish?

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 35 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Not quite as ghoulish. Say 99% as ghoulish.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Exactly. I'm not saying it's fine, just not as terrible as you might originally think.

[–] homes@piefed.world 20 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I’m not sure if that’s a distinction worth making in this case

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[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How does that make it not ghoulish?

The victim had a choice.

[–] Whirling_Cloudburst@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

When the Lich King gives you a choice, its ethical necromancy.

[–] randamumaki@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

So just holding him to his contractual obligations after death then?

That's not making it any better.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 weeks ago

Will his estate see the amount he was contractually obligated for revenue, etc?

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

In that context, that's more ghoulish.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Did anyone ask him if he thought this was ok?

[–] GirthBrooksPLO@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

From what I read, Kilmer gave the filmmakers the right to use his likeness for this purpose.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 45 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

This is so weird to me. Are we really at a point where we need recreate old, dead actors instead of giving new actors a shot?

Like could you imagine if we had this technology a hundred years ago and just decided that Charlie Chaplin was the best, so let's just clone his likeness and put him in everything? You'd never have a John Wayne, a Robert DeNiro, a Harrison Ford, or a Tom Hanks. Just a recreation of Charlie Chaplin in every major movie - because it's cheaper and less risky to recreate someone old with AI than it is to take a chance on someone new.

This timeline is dumb as hell.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Issue is, movie execs see even CinemaSins style critique as valid, so they try their best to avoid "the protagonist looks different from what he looked like in the previous episode ding". They even tanked SW IX to try to win over chuds, only to alienate everyone.

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[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would say that if no one paid to see the movie maybe studios would quit doing this, but there are usually a lot of people who don't know or don't care about any given shitty thing, so things get slowly worse.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's the flow of the world. The vast majority doesn't know and doesn't care. We all get what we deserve in the end though...

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

No, we just get what we get.

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 23 points 3 weeks ago

Sounds like the perfect movie to never watch.

[–] mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Usually i wonder "Oh, xyz is still alive?", feels werid to wonder "Oh, xyz is dead? When did that happen?"

Is this a getting-old thing? :(

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Dude had a lot of health problems. Top Gun was his last hurrah, and it was difficult for him. It's why his screen time was so short, and why they ended up honoring him with a funeral scene. If I remember correctly, he died while the film was being made, so they added that scene last minute.

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[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I’m 55 and wonder both. I think it’s a realizing your own mortality thing.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago
[–] lemmywinksthegerbilking@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

js let actors (really, anyone for that matter) die in peace bruh 😭😭🙏

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

A cousin of mine died about a year ago, after a long struggle with cancer. “She” still posts on Facebook. It makes me sick.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is this Facebook doing this, or a family member posting on their behalf?

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

None of our family would impersonate her.

https://futurism.com/future-society/meta-patented-ai-die-keeps-posting

These articles claim Facebook has no plans to use this patent, but this is very mich like what I’m seeing.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 weeks ago

I hope no one watches this, simply out of basic respect for the dead.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

that doesn't even look like him.

[–] Monument@piefed.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

It looks like someone tried to make Tom Cruise look like Val Kilmer.

Maybe if we see an era of AI reducing people’s individuality and throwing them all into an uncanny valley of blended-together appearances, we’ll wind up with a resurgence of interest in actors with atypical features.

[–] homes@piefed.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe from the early 90s

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Wait...

Val Kilmer is dead?

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Unfortunately

[–] HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 weeks ago

Well, that's creepy af

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 8 points 3 weeks ago
[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

If they're going to use AI for actors, how about we start with replacing child actors? Between Hollywood's shitty treatment of children, the effects that fame has on developmental growth, and the pure cost of hiring children (who have shorter work hours and thus tend to increase the time required to film/produce), it would make a lot more sense to replace kids on screen with a bot than attempting to raise adult actors from the dead.

I'm no fan of AI, but considering how much child abuse happens behind the scenes, using it to reduce the need for child actors is one application I'd feel at least somewhat okay with. But this? It just feels disrespectful to the dead actor. Holograms of dead people was bad enough, now we need to recreate entire films with them?

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago

Half the point of Hollywood is abuse. Literally that's the reason investment ever went into the idea. No one just provides bread and circuses, and just one justification is no where near good enough to excuse the massive costs.

Something Something beating a dead ai horse

[–] libre_warrior@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Perhaps AI Kilmer will do interviews as well.

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[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

Oy. Soon we're gonna have a separate word for films that starred a particular actor when they were actually alive, as distinguished from the rest of the films starring them.

I should rewatch The Congress.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 3 points 3 weeks ago

I mean, this isn't really a new thing, they did the same with Paul Walker for Fast and Furious

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