Billy Crystal has said he was a “dope” to turn down the role of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films.
The When Harry Met Sally actor, 76, who stars in the new Apple TV+ series Before, later voiced Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc, another Pixar and Disney animation.
He told The Graham Norton Show: “I was the dope that turned it down, but it wasn’t about the character, it was a business thing, and my agent said not to do it, so I passed.
“Then it comes out and it is genius.”
He continued: “Two years later when the producers of Toy Story first mentioned Monsters, Inc, I said ‘whatever it is, say yes.’
“They convinced me by showing me a screen test they had done of me as Buzz Lightyear in the scene from When Harry Met Sally where I am yelling about a wagon wheel coffee table.
“They even had a little Buzz under the table. It was astonishing and if I had seen that I would definitely have done Toy Story.”
Also on the show is Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville and Match Point star Emily Mortimer, who discuss the film Paddington In Peru and the Peruvian bear’s British passport.
After the film-makers asked for a passport, which would be used as a prop in the sequel, they were issued with a real one by the Home Office.
Bonneville said: “The producers wrote to the Home Office to ask if it was okay for them to use a facsimile of a passport in the film and they very sweetly issued a real one. In the passport under ‘any distinguishing features’ it says ‘Bear’.”
Speaking about the exotic filming locations, he said: “Put it this way, seven weeks were filmed in Colombia and Peru – all the jungle and river sequences – that is real, but with the cleverness of technology some of us didn’t travel very far from Borehamwood! The compositing they use now is amazing.”
The famous faces are also joined by US singer Pharrell Williams, who discusses an animated story of his life called Piece By Piece, which depicts him as a lego character.
Asked if the likes of Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake, whose voices appear in the film, knew they would end up as an animated character, he said: “No – we told them it was a documentary and that it would be animated. We wanted everyone to be themselves and not act in a certain way.”
The 2020 Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka performs live in the studio and Norton pulls the lever on audience members who dare to sit in the big red chair.
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One, Friday November 1 at 10.40pm and is also available on BBC iPlayer.
