2022 brought a new story to the Toy Story universe with Lightyear , an origin story of the man who inspired the toy, Buzz Lightyear . And while for some, news of the new film was exciting in its own right, many were disappointed that Lightyear wouldn’t be voiced by Tim Allen .
And finally, for the first time since the movie was announced, Allen has spoken out about it.
Allen, who provided the voice for Buzz Lightyear in the four ‘Toy Story’ movies, did not return for this newest venture.
Instead, the role was given to Chris Evans. This move ended up being confusing to some — after four Toy Story movies, it’s hard to imagine Buzz Lightyear voiced by anyone other than Tim Allen.
In late June, Allen broke his silence on the role.
In an interview with Extra, Allen says, “The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this ’cause it has nothing to do [with my Buzz Lightyear].” He then goes on to talk about how a movie like this had been in discussion years ago.
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“We talked about this many years ago. It came up in one of the sessions. I said, ‘What a fun movie that would be.'”
He then talks about how the team has changed since they released the previous Toy Story installments: ” This is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies.”
He also admits that it would’ve been weird to star in a ‘Toy Story’ film without Tom Hanks, who voiced Woody.
“It’s Hanks and I,” he continued. “There’s really no Toy Story’s Buzz without Woody.”
It’s important to remember that the Buzz Lightyear toy was based on an actual (in-universe) person.
In a sense, Chris Evans is portraying a character that was the basis for Tim Allen’s character in those original Toy Story films.
In fact, the team behind ‘Lightyear’ wanted this Buzz to be different.
Galyn Susman, the film’s producer said, “Tim really is the embodiment of the toy Buzz, and this isn’t the toy world, so it really doesn’t make sense .”
“There’s not really a role. It would just cause more confusion for audiences instead of helping them understand the movie we’re trying to tell.”
As Tim Allen also explained, this isn’t necessarily “his” Buzz, and the film represents a somewhat different continuity.
‘Lightyear’ released on June 17th.
The film has received mixed positive reviews , and has underperformed in theaters over the weeks since its release. It has faced some pretty stiff competition in the box office, including films like Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick .
The film was also at the center of controversy earlier this year.
In March, Pixar employees revealed that they had planned to add a same-sex kiss in the film, but the studio cut it. The scene was later restored in response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill , a move that has been praised by the LGBT+ community and its allies.
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