This weekend will see the theatrical release of Disney Pixar’s Lightyear, a Toy Story spin-off that transforms toy-centric comedy into a space adventure. It’ll mark the first time a Pixar film has graced the big screen since 2020’s Onward. Rather than going back to Tim Allen again for the voice of Buzz Lightyear, Chris Evans of Captain America fame is voicing the lead. Also present in the cast is Thor director Taika Waititi, providing more of comical acting akin to his role as the alien Korg from Thor: Ragnarok (which he also directed).
But it seems that the Thor director wasn’t as up to date on the script he was reading for with Lightyear. Scripts can often change in animation and it’s likely that Lightyear probably went through some changes, given Pixar’s method for storytelling. In an interview with CinemaBlend, Waititi brought up how excited he was to be involved with such a project, despite not knowing as much about it:
“I was honored to be asked, and it didn’t take much to convince me except just hearing the word ‘Lightyear’ and knowing that Chris was going to do it, yeah. And they were wonderful. Again, I went in and I knew nothing. I was reading scenes and then halfway through trying to figure out, still, what was going on. What the scene was following. Despite that, you know, it all works, and it’s a great film.”
It’s easy enough to understand why Waititi would want to work with Chris again, considering that they’ve appeared together in a handful of Marvel movies as well as last year’s comedy Free Guy. But it’s also understandable that he wouldn’t be as refreshed with the script given his busy scheduling.
Since his direction on Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi has had his hands in many projects in terms of both direction and acting. He’s directed the Academy Award-winning Jojo Rabbit (in which he appears as a dream-version of Hitler), an episode of The Mandalorian (which he provides a voice for), and an episode of the recent pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death (in which he plays a legendary pirate). He also has a handful of roles in Free Guy, The Suicide Squad, and the TV adaptation of his vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows.
Waititi’s next directing and acting showcase will be the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Thor: Love and Thunder, in which the Thor director will reprise his role as Korg.
Lightyear is currently playing in theaters everywhere.
