‘Top Gun: Maverick’ used Artificial Intelligence to recreate Val Kilmer’s voice

The creators of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ used an Artificial Intelligence to voice Val Kilmer’s character, Icemansince the actor lost his due to treatment for throat cancer in 2014.

The sequel to ‘top gun‘ has been a complete success, becoming Tom Cruise’s highest grossing film the weekend of its opening with $160 million and in the best weekend in the US domestic market of Memorial Day, beating ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’.

One of the most motivating moments of the film has been the reunion between Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Cruise) and his old rival/friend Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky (Kilmer). It was unknown if Kilmer would appear in the film and how the reunion would be treated, since the actor lost his voice due to a treatment against the throat cancer who suffered in 2014.

In December 2017, Kilmer revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he had lived with throat cancer for two years and that a procedure on his trachea reduced his voice to a raspy tone and left him breathless. In his 2020 memoir, ‘I’m your Huckleberry‘ (and also in Val Kilmer’s documentary ‘Val‘), Kilmer revealed that, fortunately, he had been cancer-free for four years.

In the brief scene that the actor has in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, Iceman speaks with Maverick through a keyboard, since the character also suffered from cancer in fiction, but in the final moment he decides to speak up to encourage Maverick. This was done thanks to an Artificial Intelligence.

As reported VarietyKilmer announced in August 2021 that he had partnered with Sonantic to create an AI-powered voice for himself. The actor provided the company with hours of footage containing his voice, which was then run through the company’s algorithms, which created up to 40 voice models. to then select “the best, the highest quality, the most expressive,” declared John Flynnco-founder of the company.

“I am grateful to the entire team at Sonantic, who masterfully restored my voice in a way I never imagined possible,” Kilmer originally said in a statement about the AI. “As human beings, the ability to communicate is at the core of our existence and the side effects of throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me. The opportunity to tell my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.”.

Madmartigan, Kilmer’s character in ‘Willow‘, has been confirmed for the reboot series that Disney + will premiere, and this technique will probably be used again so that the actor can speak on screen again.