Alien from L.A.: So Bad It's Good

0:00It's April 29th. This is Entertainment and celebrity news today, AI-powered stories from the spotlight. Val Kilmer's daughter, Mercedes, is speaking out about the AI version of her dad in the indie film as deep as the grave. The top-gun star passed away on April 1st, 2025, at age 65 from pneumonia, after battling throat cancer since 2, 2014. Now his likeness and voice are being used in this movie, and she's defending it against the backlash. It all began as a tool to help Val speak again during his illness. He teamed up with a UK company called Synantic to clone his voice through AI. Over time, Val saw it as a chance to set a new standard, letting actors control how their image gets used after they're gone. People are split on this. Younger actors and musicians often fear AI stealing jobs, which makes sense in a shaky industry. But older, established folks, view it as a smart way to own and protect their personal intellectual property.

1:00The film's writer and director, Kourte de Voorhees, built the role of a priest and spiritualist, just for Val. They had full okay from the estate, Mercedes's support, and paid out according to SAG rules, since Val was too sick to film, but really wanted in. Mercedes says her dad always embraced new tech to push storytelling further, and this film honors that Ford thinking vibe he brought to everything.