Val Kilmer reprised his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in Top Gun: Maverick, but there is something about his voice you should know.
Top Gun: Maverick is currently tearing up the box office. The sequel introduces us to several new characters and brings back some fan favorites, like Val Kilmer’s Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. However, Val Kilmer is unable to speak due to throat cancer complications, so how does this work? With AI, apparently.
Amazingly, Val Kilmer was able to appear in the movie and his voice was dubbed using advanced AI, by a company called Sonantic. Sonantic was able to able to train the AI to replicate the sound of Kilmer’s voice, along with his vocal mannerisms. This is pretty amazing, and it has allowed Kilmer to continue communicating despite his throat cancer issues. It also allows him to reprise beloved roles in blockbuster movies.
Top Gun: Maverick is far from the only project that Val Kilmer has been working on as of late. He already appeared in another movie in 2022 with Canyon Del Muerto, a movie about the first female archeologist. The movie also starred Abigail Breslin and Tom Felton. He has another movie planned for the near future called Riptide, which is about the sons of the leaders of a biker gang who disagree on the gang’s future after their drug operation is raided by the ATF.
However, Val Kilmer’s biggest upcoming project is undoubtedly Mark Twain and Mary Baker Eddy. This project is particularly significant for Kilmer because he’s directing, writing, and starring in the movie. The movie tells the story of Mark Twain writing a screed against Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science. To prepare for this project, Kilmer also wrote, directed, and starred in a one-man show about Mark Twain. This definitely seems like it will be a big passion project for Kilmer.
For now, you can catch Val Kilmer and see how natural his AI voice performance is in Top Gun: Maverick. Top Gun: Maverick is a direct sequel to the 1986 original. In it, we see Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as a test pilot for the Navy after 30 years of service. He must train a batch of new recruits for a dangerous mission that they might not come back from. Miles Teller also stars as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s wingman Goose. The cast is rounded out by Jennifer Connelly, Bashir Salahuddin, Glen Powell, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jay Ellis, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, and more. Joseph Kosinski directs.
Top Gun: Maverick is currently in theaters, and it’s been quite the opening weekend for Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, and the rest of the cast. In fact, it’s the biggest opening weekend of Tom Cruise’s career. This is definitely saying something since Cruise makes almost nothing but blockbusters at this point. The opening weekend pulled in $126.7 million and the current global box office total for the movie is $330 million, with no signs of slowing down. Previously, Tom Cruise’s biggest opening weekend was 2005’s War of the Worlds, which brought in $64 million. Make sure to catch it on the big screen while you still can.
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