Tim Allen Weighs in on LIGHTYEAR Saying He Wishes It Had a Better Connection to His Buzz
Disney’s Lightyear came out a couple of weeks ago, and even though it was one of the best Disney movies ever (I said what I said), it hasn’t gotten the credit it’s due in the box office. One roadblock for the film was that it featured a gay character, and while it was a lovely little background story that took up maybe a few minutes of the film, it was just too unbearable an idea for some to take.
The other issue some people took was the fact that the character of Buzz Lightyear in the movie was voiced by Captain America actor Chris Evans instead of Tim Allen, who voiced the character of the Buzz Lightyear toy in the Toy Story film franchise.
The reason Evans was chosen is because the movie Lightyear is a film within a film, Andy from Toy Story’s favorite movie, which made Andy interested in the character Buzz Lightyear, leading to him wanting the toy. So Buzz is a toy, based on a character in a movie, and that may sound confusing. But how about the logic that Tim Allen was 42 when he first voiced Buzz, and is now nearly 70, and Chris Evans is 41? I think that fact alone is enough to calm people down. But Lightyear is seemingly the bizarre animated hill many people are willing to die on, like Everybody Loves Raymond star and friend of Allen, Patricia Heaton, who got in the mix, tweeting that Pixar “had made a huge mistake in not casting my pal in in the role that he originated, the role that he owns.”
Heaton then asked, “Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?” When she found out the movie was a different version of Lightyear, she tweeted, “The reason the character became so beloved is because of what [Allen] created. Why remove the one element that makes us want to see it? #stupidHollywooddecisions.” I think Heaton needs to look up the definition of castration. Anyway, Allen himself finally weighed in on the film in an appearance on Extra, and he said:
“The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this because it has nothing to do [with my character]. This is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies.”
Allen said he spoke with Pixar years ago about a potential standalone movie for Buzz Lightyear. The actor also revealed he originally thought Lightyear was a live-action project and not an animated one. He went on to say about the movie:
“It’s a wonderful story. It just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy, and it’s a little…I don’t know. It just has no relationship to Buzz. It’s just no connection. I wish there was a better connection to this.”
I think the film is connected just fine, and you can see all the modeling of the toy after the character quite clearly. The movie was the most action-packed and exciting film I’ve seen in a long time, and I can’t recommend it enough, or wait to see it again. Lightyear is still in theaters, and I imagine it will be on Disney+ before the year is out. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out.
via: Variety