Lightyear blasts into theaters this weekend, telling the story of Buzz Lightyear. Buzz Lightyear was a toy introduced in 1995’s Toy Story, which introduced the tale of a toy figure based on a movie in the fictional Toy Story universe. Now, that very movie has been made for our world and Lightyear is set to share the story which inspired the action figure introduced more than two decades ago. With Chris Evans stepping into the role of Buzz, his nemesis known as Zurg is being voiced by James Brolin. Brolin sat down with ComicBook.com for an exclusive interview where he shared the secrets of not having the film’s secrets at all.
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“They kept it from you and they kept it from me right up to the point where I recorded,” Brolin revealed. It comes with good cause, too. Lightyear offers up some surprises which bring new perspective to the Toy Story saga as audiences get to know the Lightyear character which inspired the toy. “I didn’t know what I was doing and they steered me through this session at Pixar, at the sound studios, but they were all on a monitor from San Francisco, five executives and the director. And even on the second session, the second day of recording, and there were five different days of recording that may have run four hours each. I would do corrections from the first one because I didn’t quite get it and they would give me examples.”
Brolin is no stranger to films keeping secrets from cast members. His son, Josh Brolin, portrayed Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his Lightyear co-star Chris Evans portrayed Captain America in the same franchise. According to James Brolin, his son never offered up any details of the Marvel role and his introduction to Thanos did not come until he saw Josh playing the part. Still, recording the dialogue for Zurg in Lightyear came with “a learning curve,” the veteran actor admitted.
“It was really interesting to do it that way because that was okay with them,” Brolin said. “That’s how they want it and they didn’t want me to have any info about what I was doing really. So, I had to surmise as I went along, you know? As I did vocal things and all horror and all this stuff, I began to say, ‘Oh, I see by what he’s saying,’ and, ‘I see by the attitude,’ but I was definitely directed, you know?” With a laugh, Brolin added, “I shouldn’t say that on camera, but I’m not good at being directed. I usually decide what I’m gonna do and that’s what’s done and I let the director feel like he got it outta me. “
Are you excited for Lightyear? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter! ComicBook.com’s full interview with Brolin can be seen in the video above. Lightyear opens in theaters on June 17.
