No. Val Kilmer’s dialogue in Top Gun: Maverick was not all AI. He appeared in and performed the Iceman scene, typed the character’s on-screen messages himself, and used a struggling spoken voice. Northeastern University later reported that voice-synthesis company Sonantic helped create one emotional spoken line; that is not the same as generating all his dialogue or his performance.
What Val Kilmer did in the Iceman scene
Iceman communicates by typing on a screen for much of his scene with Maverick. Kilmer told the Los Angeles Times that he typed those words himself. The newspaper also reported that the scene was filmed twice and that the version used in the film shows a computer after a wardrobe change.
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The scene then turns to a spoken exchange: Iceman uses his struggling voice to connect with Maverick. Saying Kilmer “can no longer speak” overstates what the reporting establishes. The Los Angeles Times described him as mostly unable to use his voice, while also reporting that he spoke in this scene.
Where AI voice synthesis was used
A June 2022 Northeastern University explainer says the film had one emotional spoken line that required a partnership with Sonantic. According to the article, dialogue was fed to Kilmer’s voice model and the resulting performance was manually fine-tuned. Its account draws in part on Sonantic and on Rupal Patel, a Northeastern professor who studies vocal synthesis.
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That reporting supports a limited claim: AI-assisted voice synthesis was used for a spoken line. It does not establish that every spoken sound or all of Kilmer’s dialogue in the film was AI-generated. His typed messages were his own, and the scene also includes his on-camera acting.
Why reports about Sonantic can sound contradictory
Sonantic’s earlier voice-restoration project and its reported work on Top Gun: Maverick are separate accounts. In an August 2021 report, The Washington Post described a project begun in December 2020, after Kilmer finished recording his documentary Val. At that time, the newspaper explicitly said Sonantic’s technology was not featured in the then-upcoming film.
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The same report said the earlier project used fewer than 30 minutes of archival audio to generate 40 voice versions, from which the team selected an output for a desktop text-to-speech program. Those figures describe that restoration project—not the number or proportion of lines synthesized for Top Gun: Maverick.
For that earlier work, Sonantic CEO Zeena Qureshi said, “Val’s team wanted to give him his voice back so that he could continue creating.” Kilmer described the restoration as having “masterfully restored my voice in a way I’ve never imagined possible.” Both statements referred to the voice-restoration project, not specifically to the film’s production.
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Why the scene’s performance still matters
Voice synthesis addresses how a line sounds; it does not make the scene itself an AI performance. Kilmer was present as Iceman, and the scene’s typed communication and physical performance remain part of what viewers see. Director Joseph Kosinski recalled: “I remember noticing that both Tom and Val had tears in their eyes. It felt like a genuine moment between two old friends.” The quote, reported by the Los Angeles Times, describes the emotional exchange, not the voice technology.
The distinction also matters when discussing consent and use. Patel told Northeastern, “Consent is really important. Understanding the use cases is really important.” That is her general perspective on voice synthesis; it is not a description of a specific consent agreement for this film.
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