Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | July 28, 2025
My wife and I are parents to twin four-year-olds, so we think about death often. It’s the worst. We don’t want to, but the mind drifts to terror when you have so much to lose. It doesn’t even happen on purpose. She was just describing a dream to me where she thought our children died, and that was right after having a dream where she thought I died. The thoughts just slip in there. Not just because we are afraid of what will happen, but because we need to know what to do should something happen to one of us.
Ideally, one of us would go before any of our children. It would also be preferred that that happen many years from now, at a point when I would welcome its sweet embrace (I just always assume I’ll go first). If it happens sooner, we’ve wanted to ensure that we somehow remain a part of our children’s lives. Luckily, my wife and I are both performers, so there are videos and recordings of us out there. I have had and been on several podcasts, so my kids won’t be hard-pressed to hear my voice if they want to.
That should be enough! I understand that I am lucky in this instance. Most people don’t have hours of their voice rattling off hot takes about pro wrestling, horror movies, and, one time, Shrek: The Musical. But I’m not as lucky as others. Some people not only have hours of their voice recorded, but they have decades. Some people have had such success on stage and screen that their children, should they wish, would have hours of their loved one to listen to and see, if they want to hear their voice. That’s better than some dude who worked with their parent as a kid suggesting their voice be resurrected with AI.
Matthew Lawrence was in attendance at San Diego Comic Con this weekend. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he was asked about his Mrs. Doubtfire co-star, Robin Williams. Because we live in the worst timeline, he talked about recreating Williams’ voice with AI. “I would love — now, obviously, with the respect and with the ok from his family — but I would love to do something really special with his voice because I know for a generation, that voice is just so iconic,” Lawrence said. He’s fighting a losing battle, as Williams’ daughter, Zelda, has been very open about how disturbing it would be to recreate her dad’s voice without his consent.
That didn’t stop Lawrence waxing… unpoetic about Williams being forced back onto this mortal coil via AI recreation. “It’s not just the fact that I knew him and worked with him, and so it’s in my head — it’s in everybody’s head. And it would be so cool,” he explained. “And it always stuck with me. And then, during his passing, with the AI coming out, I’m like, ‘Man, he’s gotta be the voice of A.I. He’s gotta be the voice in something.’ So yeah, I would love to do that.”
He was already the voice in something, Matthew! In many things! Hell, you aren’t even strictly relegated to rewatching Aladdin if you want to hear his voice. You can stroll on over to the straight-to-VHS Aladdin and The King of Thieves and hear him there. You can explore his long history of work, with options that span genres, and be reminded of his talent. But don’t muse about what to do with a dead man’s voice because you think it would be “cool.” Get real, dude.
