Chris Evans Interview On Being Cast as Buzz Lightyear

Chris Evans shares how he reacted to learning that he had been cast as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s new Toy Story spin-off, Lightyear.

Actor Chris Evans has opened up on how he reacted to learning he had been cast as Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s new film, Lightyear. Lightyear is a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise, which released four films between 1995 and 2019. The spin-off was first announced in 2020 and serves as an origin story of the fictional Buzz Lightyear character that inspired the toy featured in the Toy Story films. While Tim Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films, Buzz was recast for Lightyear. The recasting was necessary since Buzz the toy and Buzz the fictional character are quite different.

“I was nervous, I was intimidated, I was excited.”

Evans’ reaction is perfectly understandable, considering the challenges of the role he was taking on. Not only that, but it has been quite some time since Evans took on a voice acting role. The last time had a voice acting role was in 2007 for TMNT and Battle for Terra. There was also the question of how Toy Story fans would react to a new actor taking on the voice of Buzz. Many false rumors swirled that Allen wasn’t chosen for the role due to his conservative views, which certainly could give viewers a less than positive response to Evans taking over. Hence, being nervous and intimidated was perfectly understandable. Also, excitement was definitely warranted as Evans is a fan of Pixar and has stated he would take on any role they wanted him to.

The film premiered on June 17, 2022, and has received mixed-to-positive reviews so far. The general consensus seems to be that Lightyear is a very fun, entertaining, and heartwarming origin story for Buzz, but doesn’t quite capture the magic that Toy Story did. In addition to Evans, the film also boasted an A-list cast including Keke Palmer, James Brolin, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, and Bill Hader. Evans had the biggest task, though, in voicing Buzz, not only because Allen was iconic in the role but also because Toy Story is such a classic and beloved film series.

Evans shared his reaction to being cast as Buzz in Lightyear. Of course, he was playing with puppies during the interview, so he wasn’t able to give the most detailed answer. However, he did express that he had a flurry of different emotions, including feeling nervous, intimidated, and excited. Check out his short and simple response below:

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Fortunately, the reaction to Evans’ voice performance has been a point of praise for early reviews, which also praised the performances of the cast as a whole. Evans finds a nice balance between using Allen’s voice as a guideline and giving his own version of Buzz’s voice. What’s most important, though, is that he genuinely seemed to enjoy the role. After all, given his past role as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s not like superhero roles are foreign to him. He has even expressed that he would be open to continuing to voice Buzz for as long as Pixar will have him. While Evans’ initial feelings were mixed at being cast in Lightyear, he has performed well in the role and may even continue to do so in the future.