Lightyear Crewmember Reveals Movie Inspirations For New Pixar Film
Lightyear cinematographer Jeremy Lasky reveals the inspirations behind Disney/Pixar's latest animated feature. Written and directed by Angus MacLane, the upcoming Toy Story spin-off serves as an origin story, exploring the adventures of the fictional astronaut who the Buzz Lightyear action figure was based on. Presented as an in-universe blockbuster film, it follows a young Buzz, who, while on his first test flight, travels through time in trying to return home from a distant planet. The Lightyear release date is set for June 17, 2022, and stars Chris Evans in the titular role, along with a voice cast that includes Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, Uzo Aduba, and James Brolin.
Lightyear looks to continue the success of the Toy Story franchise, but by making it a standalone film, MacLane was able to create a new world for audiences and fans to explore. The director previously spoke about some of his inspirations for bringing the story of Buzz and his adventures to life, revealing that Star Wars influenced Lightyear. He talked about how the iconic science-fiction series changed his life upon first viewing, and noted that, in creating Lightyear, he wanted to find Andy's version of that.
During the Lightyear press junket that SR attended, Lasky, the film's DP, elaborates on some of its other inspirations. He says the work of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was looked at a lot, for the director's ability to capture movement within a frame. He also reveals a personal inspiration of his was Spielberg, due to his talent for stretching out cuts. Read Lasky's quote regarding some of Lightyear's other inspirations below:
We looked at a lot of Kurosawa, how he's so controlling with movement in frame and making sure that the thing moving in the frame is the thing you should be paying attention to. How do you choreograph all of that, together? His films are very complex. So certainly, we're influenced by that, I'm influenced by Spielberg's use of staging and how he will often stretch out cuts, he will delay cuts because he can re-block with the camera or with the characters, and that is really interesting to me.
The space-centered project did not only look to influential genre films and their directors when seeking inspiration, though. Producer Galyn Susman has also explained that Lightyear's spaceship design drew from NASA research. She said the team was introduced to real astronauts, who allowed them to observe the equipment available at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. They were shown control centers, in addition to different modes of transportation, and they were taught about the process behind building a spacesuit.
It certainly seems like all those involved in making Lightyear cared about creating something both realistic and reminiscent of classic science-fiction movies. Drawing inspiration from someone like Spielberg for the film's cinematography says a lot about the director's impact, especially on the genre, and it will be interesting to see what the end product looks like. Audiences can look forward to pinpointing his stylistic influence when Lightyear hits theaters this summer.