Val Kilmer recently returned to the big screen in Top Gun: Maverick, but is unable to speak due to throat cancer complications. The solution? An AI system that can perfectly recreate Kilmer’s voice.
The Byte reports that actor Val Kilmer recently reprised his role as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky in the new film Top Gun: Maverick. However, Kilmer has had a lengthy battle with throat cancer and due to various complications, has lost the ability to speak.
Val Kilmer (Rob Loud/Getty Images)
Rather than using a voiceover artist or archived audio, the production crew turned to a new tool to help Kilmer with his lines — artificial intelligence. Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told Page Six last month that the filmmakers behind the movie used advanced AI developed by a company called Sonantic to perfectly recreate Kilmer’s voice.
Mercedes Kilmer told Page Six: “They were able to dub him with his own voice, which is amazing. It’s such a technical feat, being able to engineer his voice that way, that it’s an extension of the technical feat of the film.”
Last year, Kilmer himself revealed that he’d worked with Sonantic to train a digital version of his voice capturing his speaking style as closely as possible. “People around me struggle to understand me when I’m talking,” Kilmer said, using the synthesized voice. “But despite all that, I still feel I’m the exact same person. Still the same creative soul.”
Kilmer released a statement announcing the partnership with the company, saying that he is “grateful to the entire team at Sonantic who masterfully restored my voice in a way I’ve never imagined possible.”
He stated: “As human beings, the ability to communicate is the core of our existence and the effects from throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me. The chance to tell my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.”
Breitbart News’ John Nolte celebrated the success of the non-woke blockbuster in an article noting that Tom Cruise could earn $200 million for his performance.
Nolte writes:
Even during his public relations troubles more than 15 years ago, I never stopped believing in Tom Cruise. Through it all, he has always delivered… That is what a movie star does; that’s job number one… Your audience has to trust your choices and trust that you will never let them down. Unlike most modern actors, Cruise gets this. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Crawford, Denzel Washington, Cary Grant, and Bette Davis understood this. If you want to be a legend with a long career, you cannot disappoint your audience.
Something else you can never do is insult or talk down to your audience, which brings me to Woke…
All this woketardery is killing more careers than we can count, many of them before they get started. Woke movies insult audiences. Woke movies lecture and talk down to their audiences. Woke movies break the storytelling spell by inserting preachy agendas and fake ideas (mostly about sexuality and gender) that violate human nature.
Cruise doesn’t do that. He never has. He also protects his image—no mouthing off on social media. Everything is tightly controlled to ensure Cruise looks good and the public never tires of his presence on TV or in the tabloids.
He delivers, and now he’s enjoying the biggest hit of his 40-year career and, potentially, the biggest payday in Hollywood history.
Read more about Kilmer’s AI voice at the Byte here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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