“Lightyear’s” Chris Evans (Buzz Lightyear), Keke Palmer (Izzy Hawthorne), Taika Waititi (Mo Morrison), Dale Soules (Darby Steel), and James Brolin (Zurg), as well as Writer/Director Angus MacLane, Producer Galyn Susman and Composer Michael Giacchino join CinemaBlend to dish on everything you need to know about the Disney/Pixar film.
Watch to hear how Evans approached the voice of the iconic character, how it felt for Palmer and Waititi to join the "Toy Story" franchise and more!
Watch to hear how Evans approached the voice of the iconic character, how it felt for Palmer and Waititi to join the "Toy Story" franchise and more!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00These are his words, you know, and they'll never not be his words.
00:03So you have to at once acknowledge that, but still, you can't just do a shameless
00:08Tim Allen impression. You have to find a way to add your own interpretation.
00:12To infinity and...
00:20Obviously, to infinity and beyond is the most iconic line, and that's one of the most
00:26intimidating ones, just because Tim did such an amazing job with it.
00:30And I really like what Pixar did in terms of understanding why that's the catchphrase,
00:36that it was with him and Alicia, and that was kind of their thing together.
00:40I just thought that was such a clever spin on it.
00:42But again, you're trying to find a way to make it your own while also honoring
00:49the amazing work that Tim did. What Tim did is why we love this character.
00:57Why don't they answer?
00:58Oh man, it was a dream come true. When I heard about the idea, I immediately was like,
01:04oh my gosh, I really would love to be a part of this. And so when I got the opportunity and I got
01:08the role, I was just thrilled. I mean, this is an iconic legacy character. You know, it's a film,
01:15Toy Story is a film that I've always known growing up. You know, I don't remember really
01:18a time without it. So to be able to be a part of that story is awesome.
01:22Yeah, me too. I was honored to be asked and it didn't take much to convince me,
01:27except just hearing the word Lightyear and knowing that Chris was going to do it.
01:32Yeah, and they were wonderful. Again, I went in, I knew nothing. I was reading scenes and
01:38then halfway through trying to figure out still what was going on, what the scene was following.
01:44But despite that, you know, it all works. And it's a great film.
01:49Well, I was really excited. I was amazed. The most difficult thing was, you know,
01:57getting information. And the characters, they're very secretive, but you got to tell us.
02:05Anyway, that was that was great. It was also great that it didn't have any, you know,
02:12anxiety attached to it. Like, you know, we'd like you to do this. And I said, I'd like to
02:17do this. And then, you know, Bob's your uncle. That was that. So I do this and they shave a
02:23little time off my sentence. OK, and what about you? Well, I thought this was going to be like
02:27a fun boot camp workout thing. But it is not. Just talking about it now. I was there for Toy
02:34Story on the ground floor as a kid. And if this was double featured with that back then, I would
02:40have just been on the floor. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that that was the goal was
02:46to make a movie that would put kids on the floor as it were. That was really our goal. You know,
02:52they need they need to be floored by this because that's the way I was for so many movies as a kid.
02:57And films had a tremendous impact on me. And it changed the course of my life. And I wanted to
03:01do a film like that that could do the same thing for a small kid today. Well, it's a weird thing
03:06because actually Angus said something this morning which made me go, wow, I didn't thought about it
03:10that way. And he's like, yeah, but we're now actually in the Toy Story universe because we
03:15are the filmmakers who made the movie that that that Andy saw as a kid. And I'm like, oh, that's
03:21so weird. That means that I was living in that universe scoring movies. And he was there. It's
03:28just it's the more you think about it, the crazier it is. But it's really cool. It's really fun.
03:33So, yeah. And in that the movie that Andy was watching was one of his favorite movies.
03:39You know, we treated this as the movies that we loved when we were kids growing up. This was
03:43we were going to make the movie that we would have always loved to have seen,
03:47you know, right alongside a Star Wars, Back to the Future, Gremlins, whatever it is,
03:52all of those movies, this could have been just thrown in right alongside of them in somewhere
03:57in the 1980s. And we would have been perfectly happy with that because we love it. Everything
04:02we do is sort of born out of all of the things we watched growing up and all the things we loved.
04:07And this movie is just a giant love letter to all of that.
04:11To infinity.
04:12Are you trying to get me to pull your finger?
04:14Don't fall for it.
04:14No, not like that.
04:16Sorry, it's a thing your grandma and I used to do.
04:18Yeah.
04:20Maurice, Izzy and Darby are this ragtag group of junior rangers who are just
04:23they come to Buzz's rescue in his hour of need, and they're all such a delight.
04:28What is the most heroic trait that you see in your character for Lightyear?
04:32In my case, I'd say she's willing to put herself in danger to try and protect the others.
04:40You there, grab it!
04:42It's a violation of my parole.
04:45My guy, Mo Morrison, his most heroic trait is perseverance. He will try and try and try to get
04:55to find a use for his pen or for any other thing. And he'll try until there is a use.
05:01And don't die.
05:03Don't die. It's just something you want to do every day.
05:05It's still an objective.
05:06If I may.
05:07I think Izzy's most heroic trait is that she knows how to get her team engaged and empowered.
05:16She knows how to, you know, get everybody involved. And
05:19I think a team is always the best way to finish any goal.
05:22The probability of survival with an inexperienced crew is 38.2%.
05:27Seems a bit low.
05:28We have to talk about Sox because everybody is just over the moon for Peter Stone's character.
05:35Yeah.
05:36How did Sox come into play? And why does Andy not have one?
05:42Well, we have an answer for this that we've recently discovered.
05:45Andy's mom, it was a very expensive toy.
05:48It was like the, like because it was a talking toy at that time in like 1986,
05:5587, it maybe had like a little cassette deck in the back.
05:58Like it was a little out of the price range for that family.
06:03And so there were plenty of toys.
06:05And I was talking about, we were just talking about this with Michael Cicchino,
06:07how he and I both wanted an AT-AT from Star Wars, from Empire Strikes Back.
06:11We never got it.
06:12It was the one we didn't have.
06:13So Andy doesn't have all the toys.
06:15He has some of the toys.
06:16That's the way it was when I was a kid.
06:18I had some of the figures.
06:19And then oddly, my dad and I made all the vehicles for things.
06:23That's the way that I grew up.
06:25And so that's the idea behind it.
06:28He didn't have the Sox.
06:29But Sox was always a sidekick for Buzz.
06:33Buzz is a side character in Toy Story.
06:35So if you're going to make Buzz a main character, he needs a sidekick.
06:38And that sidekick can't be sarcastic.
06:41It has to be loyal.
06:42And I wanted to find something that was naturally funny from an animation perspective.
06:46And animatronic robot cat seemed like the right way to go.
06:49It's figures like this that are kind of hard to nail, especially on a comedic level.
06:54Because you could very much just have him keep saying,
06:57I just want you five minutes.
06:58And that's a gag.
06:59Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:00There's just such a life to him.
07:01Yeah.
07:02Well, I think because of the voice actor, I think that...
07:06Well, it's the animation.
07:07Tim Pixton, he's a directing animator.
07:10He did a lot of the hard work.
07:11And Michael Comet, who built the character.
07:15But it was Peter Soane, who is genuinely that kind of appealing, nice guy.
07:22Like, everyone feels...
07:23The way they feel about Sox is how everyone that knows Pete feels about Pete.
07:26And so having Peter as the voice takes it a long way.
07:31It was hard to find someone that was more warm in the right way
07:34without feeling sarcastic or cynical.
07:37And Peter has the ability to be hilarious and be totally true.
07:41And that truth...
07:41Since comedy is two truths that come together to form a new truth,
07:45Pete has that in spades.
07:47Buzz, that was utterly terrifying.
07:49And I regret having joined you.
07:51So you did go in a little cold,
07:53not knowing many specifics about the role of Zurg.
07:57I did not.
07:58As you moved forward, what helped influence your performance?
08:02Because I don't think many people realize this.
08:04You're the second Brolin to play a Disney villain
08:07besides your son Josh in the Avengers films.
08:10Yeah, it's been the talk of the town for the last two days here.
08:14But I don't know that anybody outside know.
08:17But it sounds like it's going to be part of the latest news
08:22that we're going to finally have it out, you know?
08:25I got to start going to Gold's gym and catch up with him
08:28because this is going to be one nasty fight.
08:31He's already killed half the universe, man.
08:34I got to catch up.
08:35That's what sequels are for.
08:38I mean, I hope so for very selfish reasons.
08:41Yeah.
08:42There's a lot of room.
08:43There's a lot of places to go and a lot of great characters in this.
08:46And so, yeah, I hope we have a chance to explore them further.
08:49This is exciting.
08:50A new adventure.
08:51Lightyear is the film that Andy watches and it inspires the toys.
08:55That's right.
08:56So your Lightyear's Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen is obviously the toy.
09:00Right.
09:01Do you have any Captain America merchandise that has another voice to it?
09:05And how weird is it?
09:07All of the Captain America merchandise has another voice.
09:10I've never done any voice for any of the toys.
09:14I don't even know if they can use my voice from the films in those toys.
09:17You know, a funny story, actually.
09:19There was some toy that they put out that they wanted me to do the voice for.
09:25But I ended up having my brother do it.
09:27My younger brother, who sounds similar to me,
09:31is the voice of one of the main original toys of Captain America.
09:35But again, that was one of the reasons why I was able to
09:39at least wrap my head around this project when they explained
09:42what it was going to be to understand why maybe it wouldn't be Tim Allen's voice.
09:47OK, you just sent us further down the rabbit hole with that because you pulled a Tom Hanks
09:51because his brother, Jim, tends to step in for him on some of the toy story.
09:56Does he? Does he sound like Tom? I mean, that's an iconic voice.
09:59I mean, does he sound like Tom Hanks?
10:02It's close. It's not a one for one, but it's close enough that it's never really been distracting.
10:06Yeah, yeah.
10:07Wow. Just the official Disney policy, I guess.
10:12Yeah.
10:12Ready, Captain Lightyear?
10:13Ready as I'll ever be, Commander Hawthorne.
10:16So going back to Hawthorne, in the lead up to the film's release,
10:20Lightyear almost removed an LGBTQ plus moment from the film,
10:24but then it was reinstated as it was announced.
10:27What did the cut look like?
10:30What did the altered version look like without that sequence?
10:33The montage was in there. The whole montage was in there.
10:35The only thing that changed was the 40th anniversary party instead of...
10:42They kind of held hands awkwardly.
10:44She put her head on her shoulder.
10:46No, it was just a grab. It was like a grab and like a...
10:49No, she tilted. I don't know if it was on the shoulder.
10:52We're going to sit here and argue about this. Anyway, you get the idea.
10:54It was a little weird. And so it just felt a little bit like...
10:59What is that? It just felt like something you're missing.
11:01You're going to kiss your spouse.
11:02So it was more natural that way. And we just wanted to get that in the film.
11:05But everything else was the same.
11:07But Sox, how long were we gone?
11:08Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.
11:1062 years, seven months, and five days.
11:14What?
11:14I thought of Sox's point of view of the montage.
11:18Of him just waiting around, killing time, poking at the computer.
11:23But we haven't...
11:23Oh, look at that face.
11:25I know. I'd love to.
11:26But we just finished this one. Come on.
11:29Yeah, we just... Look what we gave you on Tuesday. Come on.
11:32I demand a lot. Okay.
11:33I know. I know.
11:34You said something beyond and that means beyond.
11:36Yeah. Well, we'll take that under advisement.
11:38I'm glad to hear that something extra would be exciting to you.
11:42He's purring.
11:43He likes it.
11:43Sox, do you like that?
11:45I do.