Val Kilmer: 'They restored my voice'

Hollywood actor Val Kilmer admitted that he asked the producers of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to reprise his role using artificial intelligence after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, for which he underwent a tracheotomy. Today, the 62-year-old Val, who rose to fame in the original 1986 blockbuster as Lieutenant Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, said people find it hard to understand him as he talks, but that he is still exactly the same person he once was.

'Tom was Maverick, but Maverick's enemy was Iceman. The two of them walked together like salt and pepper. It didn’t matter that the producers didn’t contact me, I wasn’t embarrassed to ask them for the role. I got throat cancer and I was deprived of the voice I had before. People around me are struggling to understand me. Despite all that, I still feel that I am exactly the same person, ' said Val.

That's why the British artificial intelligence company has re-created the 'old' voice of the actor with incredibly realistic results. London-based Sonantic used his voice recordings.

Val can also use the same tool in his private life to help him communicate, instead of relying on the device he is talking to.'I am grateful to the whole team at Sonantica who masterfully restored my voice in a way I could never have imagined,' he concluded.

Recall, a lot of time has passed since those days of Val's greatest glory, and his appearance and condition are a concern to fans today, and recent public appearances have saddened many. A few months ago, the Cannes Film Festival screened the documentary “Wave” about his life over the past four decades in which he spoke candidly about private details and his career.

Val’s Hollywood success began to decline during the 2000s, and after acting he became a passionate fan of poetry and art, fascinated by Mark Twain, as well as a faith that helped him fight the disease he had to undergo surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

“I prayed and it was my way of healing. I always took what I do seriously and I understand that some people sometimes saw me as a difficult person. Life is a spiritual journey and my goal is to live in the moment,” he said in the film.