James Brolin Began Working on Lightyear Before He Knew He was Voicing Zurg

James Brolin Began Working on Lightyear Before He Knew He was Voicing Zurg

James Brolin didn’t know who he was playing in Lightyear when he first joined the cast, and only found out later he would be voicing the villain Zurg.

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Actor James Brolin has divulged that he had no idea who he was voicing in Lightyear when he first joined the upcoming Toy Story spinoff film focusing on Buzz Lightyear’s origin story.

In an interview for the latest print issue of Empire Magazine, Brolin revealed that while he was thrilled to take on his first animation role, he initially had no idea who he was playing in the Pixar film. “They crossed out the word Zurg. I got my lines but knew nothing about the [story],” Brolin said. Once the actor was let in on who he was portraying, Brolin found himself being inspired by his son Josh Brolin’s portrayal of Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “You know, my son played a pretty mean guy,” he said. “[The filmmakers] talked about Zurg being threatening one minute, then nice, then conning… So I just started reading [with that in mind].”

Lightyear director Angus MacLane explained in the interview how Brolin was cast in the film. “[Brolin’s voice] has a natural, commanding nature and a lot of texture,” the director said, describing how he put audio clips of several actors through a robot filter to find Zurg’s voice. “I didn’t want the character to be a moustache-twisting bad guy. I wanted him to have some warmth and humanity.”

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The film’s producer Galyn Susman previously revealed that a similar approach was taken when Pixar started searching for Buzz Lightyear’s new voice. “He needed to have a nice, rich sound, able to be both dramatic and comedic, and most importantly, he needed to be heroic without coming off as arrogant or dense,” Susman explained. “That’s a tall order, and we immediately knew we had to ask Chris [Evans]. What we didn’t know is that he is a huge animation fan and would bring the love and passion into the project, as well as his myriad acting talents. He even attended in animation dailies and gave the team a pep talk. It’s really been with wonderful collaboration, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Lightyear follows the astronaut Buzz Lightyear as he tries to fix the mistake that left him and his crew marooned on a hostile planet. During his first test flight for Star Command, Buzz inadvertently ends up time traveling 62 years into the future and must now find a way to return home. However, when the evil Emperor Zurg threatens the universe’s safety along the way, Buzz may be its only hope to save it.

Lightyear blasts into theaters on June 17.

Source: Empire

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/james-brolin-lightyear-didnt-know-zurg-voice/

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