‘Toy Story 4’ Press Conference Part 1: Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks & Tim Allen
Last week, Geeks of Color had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with a selection of the creative minds behind Disney•Pixar’s latest movie Toy Story 4! For the first part of the press conference, we were joined by:
· Tim Allen (voice of “Buzz Lightyear”)
· Keanu Reeves (voice of “Duke Caboom”)
· Christina Hendricks (voice of “Gabby Gabby”)
· Director Josh Cooley
· Producer Jonas Rivera
· Producer Mark Nielsen
The Moderator began by asking newcomers Keanu Reeves and Christina Hendricks what it was like to join the Toy Story family.
KEANU REEVES: Yeah. It was a great honor to be invited. For me, I was really excited. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to work with Tim and with Tom. But I knew that working with Pixar and being with these characters and these performers, that I was getting a chance to be a part of something that’s legendary. And so I was really excited. And Pixar gave me a great character with Duke Caboom. And so it was really fun to be a part of this story.
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: I like that, I think when children see this movie, she comes across as sort of like the villain at first. And then you realize that she’s coming from a very loving place. And I think that’s important to sort of say maybe you don’t like someone at first. But how did they get there and why are they there and understanding their story. So I think she’s very special in that way. And then she sort of gets embraced by the group. And then it’s about support and I honestly thought it was a joke that they asked me. I kept thinking there were like three other people up for the same thing.
One of the original Toy Story franchise voice actors, Tim Allen spoke about returning to the franchise for a fourth time.
TIM ALLEN: It’s similar to when my life began with home improvement. I never thought about the future. I just thought about, can I get through this? Can I finish this? Because I had no idea what the result of that would be. And the same with Toy Story. I just was, this is a very difficult process for me to do these movies. Because I don’t get to work with the other actors and it’s just difficult. I have a hard time doing this. It’s not the easiest thing. And to do one, I can’t believe we got through this. I hope everybody likes it. I hope that you appreciate what these guys have done. I loved it. I never look forward past that. It was great. Number two was an amazing occurrence. And then I look at it like I’m an old Mickey Mouse guy. Mickey Mouse, I don’t know why. And I told these guys, I don’t know what you’re going to do with Pixar Mickey Mouse movie. But I like the fact that this is a series of stories. And when I saw, I think Buzz and Woody were on a pencil racer at a McDonalds or something. As weird as that sounds, we’ve hit a high mark when you become an icon. I never thought of that. It never occurred to me and I’ll say it again. There is a theme park out here. A theme park. I love theme parks. There’s a theme park. And a really, really good one and a really spectacular one that’s about this movie we started 25 years ago. I can’t describe except I’m honored and humbled to be part of this thing.
Director Josh Cooley and Producer Jonas Rivera took the time to speak about the new cast members.
JOSH COOLEY: That is a great question. Well, I’ll say with these toys, the new toys in this film, we looked at the toys that we grew up with. The ones that we played with. If you look at the original Toy Story, some of those are kind of the more classic toys. Like Slinky and Potatohead and stuff. So we went more to the 70s and 80s in terms of toys. And then just tried to figure out characters that weren’t just there on the screen just to be characters, but actually helped the story move along and supported Woody as much as possible. But were also entertaining as well. So it’s a great question because it’s really hard to do. People love Toy Story already. And then to try and introduce new characters into this, you go hope you like these characters that as much. And hopefully you do.
JONAS RIVERA: You don’t do it just for the fun of it. Gabby for example. The story would not work without Gabby Gabby. She is an echo of Woody. And we needed her to be this legit and real and truthful human character. The same thing for Duke Caboom and Giggle and everybody new. So they’re not just for fun, although we love them. But this movie wouldn’t work without them. That’s kind of our metric.
We will have more coverage from the Toy Story 4 press conference coming soon. Until then, be sure to check out our review of the film here!
Toy Story 4 hits theaters June 21, 2019!
