Less than a year after Hollywood lost one of its most magnetic talents, Val Kilmer’s children are back in the spotlight — and this time, for a reason that is capturing the attention of movie fans across the country. Mercedes and Jack Kilmer, the two children of the legendary actor, have publicly backed the use of artificial intelligence to bring their father to the screen one final time. Their support for his posthumous role in the upcoming film As Deep as the Grave has reignited conversations about grief, technology, and the meaning of artistic legacy. The story of Val Kilmer’s children and how they are choosing to honor him is one of the most compelling human stories in Hollywood right now.
If you want to understand the full picture of who Val Kilmer was as a father — and what his children are doing to keep his memory alive — read on. This story goes far deeper than you might expect.
A Legend Who Put Fatherhood First
Val Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959, in Los Angeles, California, and became one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. He played Iceman in Top Gun, Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Jim Morrison in The Doors, and Batman in Batman Forever. But despite all the iconic roles, the people who knew him best understood that being a father was the part of his life he cherished most deeply.
He married actress Joanne Whalley in 1988 after the two met on the set of Willow, and together they had two children — Mercedes, born in 1991, and Jack, born in 1995. The couple divorced in 1996, but Val never stepped back from his role as a devoted and present father. He once said in an interview that his only complaint about parenthood was that he never got to see his children enough. He described being “madly, wildly entertained” by them — and that feeling never faded.
In 2012, he told a publication that he had turned down as many as ten great directors simply to stay closer to his family. For a man of his stature in Hollywood, that was a remarkable and telling choice.
Growing Up Kilmer — Life in the Spotlight
Both Mercedes and Jack grew up knowing that their last name carried weight. Jack once described the experience as both a blessing and a burden. The family got nice tables at restaurants and occasional access to private jets, but also endured years of paparazzi and unwanted attention. The siblings learned early to protect one another and to approach the attention with a sense of humor.
Neither of them ran from the entertainment world. Jack built a solid acting career, appearing in films like The Stanford Prison Experiment, Palo Alto, and The Nice Guys. He also inherited what many described as his father’s natural, effortless screen presence. Mercedes carved out her own creative path through New York’s avant-garde theater scene, earning a reputation as a multidimensional artist. She has spoken openly about how she and her father shared a deep love of writing and creativity, noting that she cannot remember a time when art was not central to her world.
Their father was vocal about his pride in both of them. In 2018, he posted a photo with his kids and wrote that they were gorgeous and talented, praising Mercedes for her work in art, acting, and singing — and celebrating Jack for finishing his fifteenth film before rushing home for a photoshoot. That kind of public devotion was entirely in character.
Cancer, Closeness, and the Strength of a Family
In 2015, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. A procedure on his trachea damaged his vocal cords, leaving him with a rasp and limited breath. He underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies during his battle with the disease. It was a fight that lasted nearly a decade and reshaped every aspect of his life.
Through all of it, Mercedes and Jack never left his side. Mercedes has spoken about how the illness, as difficult as it was, actually pulled the family closer together. They spent more time with one another than ever before. She also praised her father’s resilience and humor, noting that even from a hospital bed, he found ways to crack jokes and make the doctors laugh.
In 2021, both siblings served as associate producers on the Prime Video documentary Val — a deeply personal film built from decades of home footage that Val had shot himself. Jack narrated their father’s own writings for the project. The documentary gave the world an intimate look at the man behind the movies, and it was a labor of love in every sense.
Mercedes Announces Her Father’s Death
Val Kilmer passed away on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65. His cause of death was pneumonia, compounded by the long-term effects of his throat cancer battle. It was Mercedes who announced his death to the world, sharing the news with a major publication that evening.
Two days later, Mercedes and Jack released a joint statement expressing gratitude for the massive outpouring of love and tributes from fans around the globe. They said they were proud of their father and honored to see his legacy celebrated, while asking for privacy as they began the process of grieving. Tom Cruise, Val’s co-star from the original Top Gun, led a moment of silence for him at CinemaCon just two days after his passing.
The tributes that followed were a testament to the scale of Val Kilmer’s impact — on cinema, on fellow artists, and on the millions of fans who grew up with his face on screen.
Val Kilmer’s Final Role — and the AI Decision That Changed Everything
Now, nearly a year after his death, Val Kilmer is set to appear in a film he never once stepped foot on set to film. The movie, As Deep as the Grave, uses generative artificial intelligence to create his performance entirely from scratch. The role — a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist named Father Fintan — was one Val had signed onto five years before his death, but his deteriorating health made filming impossible.
The film’s writer and director said he simply refused to recast the role. He had designed it specifically around Val, drawing on his Cherokee heritage and his deep personal connection to the American Southwest, where he lived for many years on a ranch in New Mexico. When it became clear that Val could not physically make it to set, the director waited — and ultimately decided to use AI to bring the vision to life.
Both Mercedes and Jack have fully supported this decision. Mercedes released a statement making clear that her father always approached new technology with curiosity and optimism, seeing it as a tool to expand what storytelling could achieve. She described him as “a deeply spiritual man” who connected deeply with the story of discovery and enlightenment at the heart of the film. Jack is also on board, according to the director.
The production followed SAG guidelines on the use of AI and properly compensated the Kilmer estate for his appearance. The AI-generated version of Val was built using younger photos provided by the family, along with footage from his final years — capturing the character across different stages of life. His post-surgery raspy voice was also used deliberately, because the character in the film also suffers from tuberculosis, creating a poignant bridge between fiction and real life.
A Life That Embraced Technology — Even Before Death
This was not the first time Val Kilmer leaned into technology to continue telling stories. When his voice was severely damaged by throat cancer, he partnered with an AI company to digitally recreate his original speaking voice. That collaboration made his appearance in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 possible — and Val spoke movingly about what it meant to him to have his voice back, even in digital form.
That openness to technology in service of art is exactly the spirit his children say they are honoring now. As Deep as the Grave is currently seeking distribution in 2026 and, if released, would stand as the first film in history to feature a posthumous performance built entirely through artificial intelligence.
The Legacy Continues
The story of Val Kilmer’s children is ultimately a story about love — the kind that does not end when a person is gone. Mercedes and Jack have shown, time and again, that they understood their father not just as a movie star, but as a deeply creative, spiritual, and complicated human being. They protected him during his illness, celebrated him during his life, mourned him publicly at his death, and are now making careful decisions to ensure his final artistic wishes are honored.
For a man who spent decades filming his own life as a kind of living archive, the idea of leaving behind one final performance — even one made possible by technology — feels entirely true to who he was.
What do you think about Val Kilmer’s children supporting his AI-generated final film role? Drop your thoughts in the comments below — this is a conversation the entire entertainment world is having, and your voice matters.