Dominic Smithers
Tom Hanks has hit out at the decision to not cast Tim Allen in the new Buzz Lightyear movie.
Allen - as you will no doubt be aware - voiced everyone's favourite space ranger in all four Toy Story films between 1995 and 2019.
So fans of the franchise were shocked when Pixar announced that he had not been cast in the spin-off prequel, Lightyear, and instead, Chris Evans was the one who stepped in the spotlight.
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Since the announcement, the studio has come in for some criticism and now, Allen's former co-star, Tom Hanks, who played Woody in the Toy Story series, has weighed in on the debate.
When asked if he felt it was 'strange to be in theatres opposite a Buzz Lightyear film', the 65-year-old told CinemaBlend: "How about that? I actually wanted to go head-to-head with Tim Allen and then they didn’t let Tim Allen do it. I don’t understand that."
Discussing Evans being cast as Buzz, Hanks said: "Yeah, yeah, I know," before adding: "Here’s the thing: I want to go back in the theatre with a bunch of strangers and leave with something in common. That’s what I want to do and going to see a movie with [Allen] – I’m looking forward to that."
Lightyear, which landed in cinemas last month, centres on the real Buzz Lightyear meaning, technically, he's a different character to Allen's Buzz.
And with that in mind, the film's makers have previously explained why they decided to cast Evans instead for the new flick.
Speaking to Den of Geek, producer Galyn Susman said: It was important to differentiate our hero Buzz from the toy based on his character and represented in the Toy Story movies.
"He needed to have a 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. That’s a tall order, and we immediately knew we had to ask Chris Evans."
While director Angus MacLane said the decision to replace Allen was key to how they wanted their Buzz to be perceived.
He told Vanity Fair: "Tim’s version of Buzz is a little goofier and is a little dumber, and so he is the comic relief.
"In this film, Buzz is the action hero. He’s serious and ambitious and funny, but not in a goofy way that would undercut the drama.
"Chris Evans has the gravitas and that movie star quality that our character needed to separate him and the movie from Tim’s version of the toy in Toy Story."
However, despite the explanations, Allen himself said that he just doesn't understand what they were trying to achieve.
Speaking to Extra, the 69-year-old said he originally thought it would be a live-action film with 'real humans, not an animated thing', and he didn't really get the idea at all.
"I've stayed out of this," he told the site. "We talked about this many years ago… but the brass that did the first four movies is not this. It's a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies."
Allen went on: "There's really no Toy Story Buzz without Woody. I'm not sure what the idea—I'm a plot guy. It would seem to be a big adventure story, and as I see, it's not a big adventure story.
"It's a wonderful story, it just doesn't seem to have any connection to the toy. It has no relationship to Buzz."
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