Tony Hale is known for an array of comedies like Arrested Development and Veep, but he’s also done a lot of voice work throughout his career. The star is currently the voice of Doctor Psycho on Harley Quinn and new episodes of his animated show, Archibald’s Next Big Thing Is Here, just premiered on Peacock. However, the character he’s probably best known for voicing is Forky, the hilarious spork made famous in Toy Story 4. ComicBook.com recently had a chat with Hale and asked him if he expected Forky to resonate with audiences as much as he did.
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“I didn’t if I’m honest,” Hale admitted. “I remember when Pixar brought me up to their headquarters, which was crazy, by the way, if you ever get a chance to go, you would love it… They brought me up and they sort of, ‘We were thinking about you playing a spork.’ And I was like, ‘All right, that’s not what I was expecting,’ but they said that he sees himself as trash. And I was like, ‘Wow, how is that going to resonate?’ But what I loved about Forky is he came into the world thinking ‘I’m trash’ but then Woody comes along and he’s like, ‘No you’re made for so much more than that. You know, you have purpose and you have value.’ And I think in life many times, me included, can see ourselves, not the way we should see ourselves, you know, but the truth.”
Hale continues, “But to remember as Woody, you know who’s everybody’s father, says, ‘No, we are made for so much more than that.’ And I loved the message of that. And very much like Archibald, I will say, Forky, the character, the doll in the thrift shop, Gabby Gabby, Forky saw this doll, who everybody saw as evil. And they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this doll is evil,’ but Forky didn’t have an understanding of what any of that meant. So he got to know her. And then you learned that there was a whole story to Gabby Gabby that everybody just missed because they were judging her. Archibald’s very much the same way. He just kind of sees everybody, there’s one character, in particular, that’s kind of a bigfoot character in a story that everybody’s like, ‘Oh, stay away from him.’ And Archibald’s like, ‘Why what’s his name? What’s he from?’ And because of that, breaking that barrier we learned this whole story behind this character. And I’m crazy about that.”
Toy Story 4 and Forky Asks a Question are currently streaming on Disney+, and Archibald’s Next Big Thing Is Here is now available to watch on Peacock.
