Could Chris Evans & Lizzo Be Collaborating In The Future?

Congratulations on Lightyear. I saw it just the other night. Really enjoyed it. Oh, thanks. I gotta kick it off with the premiere last night. Oh, right. You said you liked the shirt. Twitter's obsessed with the guns. You know it's an animated film, right? Like, you didn't have to bulk up. You didn't have to bulk up on us for this, right? That's right. I was doing push-ups in the car on the way home. Yeah, just ready. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Talk to me a little bit about obviously signing on to this. Do you remember when you first saw the iconic film that was Toy Story? Yeah, of course. It was a big deal. I'm a big animation fan. So at the time, not only was it a great movie, but it was kind of kicking the door down in terms of a new approach to the medium. So it certainly had an impact. Yeah, and it had an impact, of course, when it came time to sign on for this role, however. That's something else entirely. Did you feel the pressure? What were you feeling taking it on? And then how did you make it your own? I was intimidated. You know, even hearing Lightyear, I said, well, what does that mean? Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear. And the director gave a great pitch saying that when he was a kid he loved Star Wars and that when he saw the first Toy Story movie and he saw that Andy and all of his friends knew Buzz Lightyear and they loved Buzz Lightyear and he wondered, well, what's the movie that they saw that made Buzz Lightyear so iconic in their world? So this is that movie. And I said, okay, okay. So it doesn't have to be – I mean, I have a bunch of Captain America dolls out there that don't have my voice. So I could at least justify in my head why it's not Tim's voice. But there's no denying that Tim did something iconic that we all know and love. And so you have to acknowledge that, pay homage to that, and use it. I mean, the character is supposed to be the human version of the toy, so you'd be a fool not to use it. But you still have to find your own interpretation while respecting what Tim did. Absolutely. You said you were a big fan, as we all were when we were younger. What would Little Chris think of this moment? What would you say to Little Chris about this moment? Bro, we're headed to Buzz. Man. He's about to go down. He wouldn't believe it. I mean, Little Chris kind of is me. So most times I can't believe it. Yeah. Wait, do you really mean that? Do you still look up at your life and think – Oh, yeah. My emotional maturity has stopped at 12. So, I mean, most of my life and experience in this industry, it almost feels like it's happening to somebody else and I'm just kind of watching. Interesting. Okay. What struck me about the film when I watched was obviously you have these themes of teamwork and persistence, but Buzz sort of realizing over the course of time, you know, what's the saying? If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together, right? And that's something that it seems he learned in the film. Is there any way in which that resonates with you? How do you most identify to some of the life lessons Buzz learned on this journey? Well, that's the best thing about Pixar. They do such a good job of weaving multiple themes and lessons into their movies. The one that kind of resonated with me was more about not living in your mistakes and recognizing that the mistakes you make don't define you. In fact, they're opportunities for growth. It's not something to dwell upon. In fact, it's a chance to evolve. Absolutely. Beautifully said and so true. One of my favorite parts of the film is anytime Socks was on the screen – That's what everybody said. He's so funny and cute and hilarious. He's the best. When he got you with the dart, I was like, who wrote this? This is genius. How much fun was it to see that play out, watching it back? Obviously, when you're recording the animation, that's one thing. It's great. I mean, that's the tricky thing about doing these things, you know. You spend most of the time in a booth without other actors, without visuals. You just have someone trying to explain to you what it's going to be. It's going to be a cat, then it's going to be a dog. It's going to run and it's going to explore. You're running and you're just kind of like, nah. I'll just trust you. But then one day you come in and they put some things together and you get to see some stuff and you're just goosebumps. Did you intentionally purr? I can't help. Listen, I can't count how many times that I would go into the recording booth and Angus would say, okay, so before we do this next scene, we actually got something to show you. Because they didn't always have visuals. But if you did have something, I'd say, oh my God, great. And they would show something. And no matter how early in the stage it was, you just get this little kid in me with just goosebumps. Right, absolutely. Socks, obviously, the sidekick in the film. You've got your little homie Dodger. He's the rescue. And he is down to ride his Sockses. Oh, come on. Absolutely. I was actually kind of hoping when I first saw Socks, I was like, did you base that off of Dodger? Similar coloring, you know what I mean? Yeah, I kind of thought maybe Dodger might have modeled for it. What was the verdict? Did they? No, no, no. They could have lied to you, Chris. They might have. I'm going to tell this man that it's based off of Dodger. Selfish. Nailing the sort of cadence that Buzz has here, lowering the register of his tone, what were the keys to differentiating this Buzz from the one that we first saw? Sure. Well, like I said, you want to try and borrow, steal what Tim Allen did because it was so good. It's what we all know. And, again, it's not like you're doing, you're not playing Batman or James Bond where it's an iconic role, but you get to make fresh tracks in the snow. This is the character that Tim is just in human form. So you've got to take what he did. You've got to. You'd be a fool not to. So it was kind of a manner of taking what he did. And my first recording session was just a shameless impression of Tim Allen. And then you slowly have to kind of find your own interpretation of it while still using his choices as your compass. Yeah. And I watched the movie alone. No kids there. Enjoyed it. Laughed. Had some takeaways. I'm sure the children wouldn't take away quite yet. But when they watch it again, what are you hoping for audiences of all ages obviously watching this thing? Is the takeaway the same across the board? Yeah. I mean, look, that's what Pixar is great at doing. It's something that's great for kids, but most of the Pixar movies I've watched, there hasn't been a kid around. I'm just watching it as an adult enjoying these movies. That's what they do. They make great cinema for all ages. I don't think that's a fair pitch though when you say it because you just told me you have the emotional maturity of a 12-year-old. Yes, that's true. That is not selling me on the idea that adults should be watching this. And I'm completely trolling you. I get exactly what you're talking about. Really quickly before I let you go, we know you and Lizzo are friendly. Might we ever see a collaboration? Maybe she hits the soundtrack for a future film? Yeah, I hope so, actually. I've heard some rumblings of that, so I don't know if that's going to happen. You should just exclusively act as Hollywood. No, I can't. No? Not yet. Too soon. Too soon. But maybe. Maybe.