Why Chris Evans Was Cast to Voice the New Buzz Lightyear in Pixar's LIGHTYEAR

When Chris Evans was cast to voice Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s Lightyear a lot of fans seemed confused as to why Tim Allen was replaced. I’m still seeing comments online regarding this so people still obviously don’t get what this movie is doing and why Evans is the voice of Buzz.

Well, we have a definitive explanation for you from the creative team behind the film, producer Galyn Susman and director Angus MacLane. Susman said:

"When casting Buzz, it was important to differentiate our hero Buzz from the toy that's made on his character and represented in the Toy Story movies. So that meant we needed a new voice for Buzz. He needed to have that nice rich sound, able to be both dramatic and comedic. And most importantly, he needed to be heroic without coming off as arrogant or dense. And that's a tall order. And we immediately knew we had to ask Chris. What we didn't know is that he is a huge animation fan and would bring that love and passion into the project, as well as his acting talents. He even attended an animation dailies and gave the team a pep talk. It's really been a wonderful collaboration and we couldn't be happier."

MacLane then talked about the challenges of avoiding an imitation of Tim Allen’s version of Buzz saying:

"From early on, because the voice is so iconic, you run the risk of imitation. And I never wanted someone that was going to imitate that character voice, but I wanted something to be different. The complexity of the timeline of it is that, and this is more information than you probably wanted, is I imagine this was a movie that then later there was the spinoff cartoon, and then the 'Toy Story' toy was made off of that cartoon design. Because that very much was the way it would be in the eighties and early nineties, that there would be a big budget movie, like a serious movie, and then would get ported to a TV show. It's not diminishing anything, but it does feel like the events of what happens on the back of the package for Buzz Lightyear don't happen in this movie and that's like a future story."

When talking about what the creative team was looking for in an actor to take on Buzz, MacLane says that the right tone of the character was key. They obviously saw that in Evans:

"So I wanted somebody who was not going to be goofy funny. Because the character... It is so hard to make a character that is a side character to a main character. You need to kind of step back and rethink it a little bit. And I knew that the character was iconic enough that you needed someone with the gravitas and seriousness and the balance of comedy and drama for the actor. It was a very narrow window of actor that could do it. And there was a lot of comedy and serious action stuff that we'd seen Chris Evans do and had always exemplified. And I was always impressed by his ability to not seem too goofy, but be able to laugh at himself, and that's really essential for the character. We knew he could handle the action stuff and the comedy of this."

MacLane went on to talk about how they looked to handle the characters of the story and what they learned about character development from director Brad Bird:

"A lot of times when you go into animation, since you're creating everything, it can often remind the audience through motion or design not to worry about the characters. And one of the things that I learned from Brad Bird was, working on 'The Incredibles,' was make sure the audience is worried about the character's safety. So if they're worried about the character's safety, and the characters on screen should be worried about their safety, and that all kind of gelled around wanting to separate from 'Toy Story,' but also wanting to find somebody that had the right blend of elements. And Chris, like Galyn said, was our first and only choice. And we were so thrilled that he warmed to the project immediately and has been such a wonderful partner for us."

The story follows “the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda. A new poster and images are also available.”

The film also stars Uzo Aduba as Lightyear’s commander and best friend Alisha Hawthorne, and Peter Sohn as Sox. Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, and Dale Soules lend their voices to the Junior Zap Patrol’s Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison and Darby Steel, respectively, and James Brolin can be heard as the enigmatic Zurg. The voice cast also includes Mary McDonald-Lewis as onboard computer I.V.A.N., Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside, Efren Ramirez as Airman Diaz, and Keira Hairston as Young Izzy.

Lightyear will hit theaters starting June 17th, 2022.

Source: /Film