'Everyone seems to be drawing a parallel between us...'
If you're taking Buzz Lightyear out of the Toy Story movies, and giving us a straight-ahead take on the intergalactic hero, then you need to take his famous arch-nemesis with him.
And so it is with Lightyear (our full review here), which sees Captain America himself Chris Evans voice the beloved space ranger, who finds himself going up against Emperor Zurg (voiced by James Brolin).
James Brolin - father of Josh Brolin, husband to Barbra Streisand - has a storied career spanning many decades, including performances in the likes of Traffic, The Amityville Horror (the original 1979 movie), Westworld (the original 1973 movie), Capricorn One, and he recently provided the narration to Netflix's hit series Sweet Tooth.
In the run-up to the release of Lightyear, JOE sat down with James, and you can check out our full interview right here:
During the interview, we chatted about everything from James and Barbra's time in Ireland, his thoughts on the new version of Westworld ("I don't get it..."), and how Robert Downey Jr. had a hand in him landing this new Pixar role.
However, since James' son Josh played one of Disney's biggest villains of all time - as Thanos in the MCU movies - we asked if they had discussions at all about how to play humungous and iconic bad guys. James told us:
"I didn't know what he was doing in [Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame] until I sat in a theatre and saw it, and he has no idea what I'm doing [in Lightyear] yet.
"What I'm hearing from fans and interviewers, is that everybody seems to drawing a parallel [between Zurg and Thanos]. All I can say is: in a bar fight I wouldn't have a chance."
James also told us that he and Josh don't really discuss their work, and that they never really had:
"Josh is pretty remote with his dad about his career. I've given him some advice, and he - for many years - always worked, but it wasn't until he was about 35 that something really clicked, and the guy became not only a terrific actor, but also, in a sense, a movie star.
"But he keeps [his work] pretty much to himself, and I don't think with any job I ever had, that I came home when he was growing up that I sat my son down and told him what I did or how I did, because I wasn't sure anyway. Being an actor is a crap shoot, sometimes you have a failure that you wish you hadn't taken, and other times it is a surprise, it is a smash hit that you never thought it would be."
Lightyear arrives in Irish cinemas on Friday, 17 June.
