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Hollywood AI-listers: is the technology ready to rival flesh-and-blood film stars?
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A young Val Kilmer appears in the trailer for the western As Deep as the Grave, but the figure is an AI-created facsimile of the late actor, approved by his family. Director Coerte Voorhees uses the likeness to deliver the line “Don’t fear the dead – and don’t fear me.” The release has reignited debate over whether synthetic performers could rival or replace flesh-and-blood stars.
The clip drew mixed reactions. The AI Kilmer looks strangely rigid and lacks both his voice and his signature air of spacey shrewdness, despite estate approval citing his enthusiasm for technology that expands storytelling. Critics questioned whether such doppelgangers honor actors or exploit them.
The controversy follows Tilly Norwood, an AI “starlet” unveiled last year. After her appearance in an introductory comedy sketch, Emily Blunt called her “really, really scary,” underscoring the depth of feeling around synthetic performers. Norwood is now set to appear in the feature-length film Misaligned, deepening unease about a tech-driven agenda.
Tim Webber, chief creative officer at British VFX powerhouse Framestore, is skeptical that fully AI-generated actors can capture human complexity. He says AI models are trained on the surface of things, such as the pixels of internet images. Reaching the level of genuine emotion in a human performance, he argues, is “a long way further down.”
Yet AI video is advancing quickly. Higgsfield AI claims to have “eliminated” the uncanny valley. It released two fully AI-generated features this year: Hell Grind, a 95-minute action fantasy, and The Cully Hill Boys, a 115-minute caper comedy.
Production was swift. Higgsfield completed the equivalent of shooting and post-production for Hell Grind in a fortnight and for The Cully Hill Boys in a month, excluding script time. Content lead Adil Alimzhanov, 23, who used his own face for Hell Grind’s protagonist, says new tools cannot be resisted.
Quality is also improving. Hell Grind’s characters managed roughly one emotion per 15-second shot due to limits in the Chinese video-AI model Seedance 2.0. The Cully Hill Boys, released three months later, offers more convincing repartee and comic timing, raising questions about whether AI is ready to rival real stars.
