Tom Hanks Gave His Two Cents On the 'Lightyear' Casting Beef

Tom Hanks Gave His Two Cents On the 'Lightyear' Casting Beef
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Well, here we are, together, staring in the face of a rather 2022 series of unfortunate events. There is a Pixar film, in theaters, by the name of Lightyear—not to be confused with Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear! No. Lightyear is about the movie the kid from Toy Story saw that made his little heart want a Buzz Lightyear toy. Don't think about it too hard.

Again, since this is 2022, this children's movie is somehow drawing a fair amount of criticism. And that's not even including the accusations from LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios who claimed that Disney executives censored “overtly gay affection” in its films. This reportedly included Lightyear, which allegedly cut and later restored a same-sex kiss. Nope, we're here for something absolutely trivial. If you're behind on the drama, the original voice actor behind Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen, seems to be upset that Lightyear brought in Chris Evans to play the character this time around. “The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this because it has nothing to do [with my character],” Allen told Extra. “This is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies.”

“It’s a wonderful story,” Allen continued, seemingly enjoying the movie anyway. “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.”

Lighten up, Tim! Pixar movies don't need Marvel levels of interconnectivity. Now, you'd think Allen would've said his peace and faded away. But in what's somewhat of a surprise, Tom Hanks—who voices Woody in the Toy Story films—kinda-sorta sided with his former co-star in this nonsensical beefing. “How about that?" Hanks told CinemaBlend when the outlet brought up Lightyear and Hanks's Elvis debuting in the same weekend. "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.”

Don't worry, cooler heads have spoken about Evans's involvement in the film, albeit before Hanks entered the Lightyear chat. “Tim’s version of Buzz is a little goofier and is a little dumber, and so he is the comic relief," the director of Lightyear, Angus MacLane, told Vanity Fair. "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.” As for Evans himself, the actor added to Vanity Fair that he used “Allen as a guideline.” and that he "had to somehow create my own understanding of the character, and try to make some fresh tracks in the snow while paying homage to the great work that he did.”

How soon can we throw this news cycle in the incinerator from Toy Story 3? Tim, we're sure that you'll be invited to the Toy Story 5 party. And please, stop making this worse, Tom Hanks.

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