Press

Tim Allen’s Space Odyssey

VALLEY magazine, January February 2000

by Bonnie Steele

As the star of “Galaxy Quest” and the voice of Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story 2,” this veteran funnyman is guiding his post—“Home Improvement” career to infinity and beyond.

Even Tim Allen admits breaking out of your TV persona can be tough. But after eight years as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor on ABC’s “Home Improvement,” the seasoned sitcom star doesn’t seem to be having a difficult time making the transition to the big screen. No doubt, the success of ‘Toy Story 2’ and ‘Galaxy Quest’ are helping ease Allen’s move into feature films. ‘He’s just one of the most genuinely funny people.’ Says Sigourney Weaver, who was already a big fan of Allen before working with him on ‘Galaxy Quest.’ “He has a real gift. He’s a true jester. It is amazing we got the film done at all, because we laughed so much.” In ‘Galaxy Quest,’ Allen portrays the spaceship captain of a cult television series that has been canceled for years. When a group of real like space aliens intercept transmissions of the show and mistake them for historical documents, Allen and his former co-stars are enlisted to help these aliens battle their intergalactic nemesis. Allen describes his roles in both ‘Galaxy Quest’ and ‘Toy Story 2’ as misguided guy’s guys -intentionally not that far from his beloved television character. ‘Valley Magazine’ recently had a chance to catch up with the former ‘Tool Man’ to talk about his new films and his ambitious plans for his future on the big screen.

Q: ‘Galaxy Quest’ and ‘Toy Story 2’ are two really funny movies, providing us with the only laughs of the holiday movie season.
A: There couldn’t be a better season for it. There’s one depressing movie after another. I didn’t expect that. That’s not why we did it. Once DreamWorks saw what hey had with ‘Galaxy Quest,’ they started really pushing ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) to tweak it and make it 100 percent. You are the beneficiaries of this, because the effects are not expected in this movie. They are much better than you’d expect. The lighting and direction and the set design are better than you’d expect, so you get a full meal. And they wanted it done, and it couldn’t be done because we were supposed to come out around Thanskgiving, and it wasn’t going to be good enough. They pushed ‘Santa Clause,’ and that was not ready. It didn’t hurt it any. They could have taken three more months, and they would have had some of those effects down, but ‘Santa clause’ would of come out around Valentine’s Day. That doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Q: So you had to work a lot with a blue screen for all the special effects in ‘Galaxy Quest?’
A: As old as I am, I started movies pretty young in my career, just with ‘Santa Clause’ in ’92., so I was already blue screened and had fake animals and prosthetics and CGI (computer generated images). That was just part of the deal. My first movie was CGI, animal animatronics and all that stuff. It’s like my race team started with the sequential gear shift, and the older drivers had never had it, and they were so used to those pedals that it was hard to make the adjustment. I think for me, it’s just part of the business.
Q: After your portrayal of a TV spaceship captain, do you think you are going to be off William Shatner’s Christmas card list?
A: I don’t make jokes about him. He turns into the hero, doesn’t he? I never thought of it as being about him. We needed a genre that would launch these characters, so we had to come from some place. ‘Star Trek’ fit so well. It wasn’t about ‘Star Trek’
Q: Well, you did pick up some of his mannerisms.
A: You bet I did. All that posturing stuff. I love it. As soon as I sat down in that chair, I became Kirk because Picard is a little too British. He’s in control, but he’s not real snappy with it. You wouldn’t want to mess with him, but Kirk had that emotionalism.
Q: You seem so knowledgeable about these old sci-fi shows.
A: Why wouldn’t I be? That’s why I did this. I love sci-fi. I would rather have done ‘Aliens.’ The Paul Reiser part- I love that. But this was fun. This is traditional science-fiction, like Deep Space Nine.’ But we still ramped up the special effects. You won’t see this stuff on TV. It’s really surprising what they’ve come up with. The rock monster in the script is certainly not as cool as it was when it came out.
Q: Is there something a bit sensitive about playing actors who’ve has a success, and then that was it?
A: Oh yea. I used to joke about this all the time on ‘Home improvement,’ about what we are all going to so because we were so successful. The world is your oyster when you are successful. That was when I was getting scripts. I was planning for this. I like this business. Parts of it I love, and I didn’t want it to just end. The further you get away from your success, the less your phone rings. The next thing you know, it’s 20 years later and you’re in a mall going, “Remember when Al and I used to do something like this…”
Q: Is there a danger in a film like this of going over the top?
A: It was there. It was written. It was on the page. They guy who wrote it had much bigger ideas. I think that’s how the original movie went., but DreamWorks decided that’s not where they wanted to go. It was easily, no offense, in the ‘Space Balls’ category. Or do we play it like we don’t know how funny this is? And we all agreed, especially with Alan and Sigourney, let’s play it as though we are these cheesy actors.
Q: Sigourney explained how she had wanted to go blonde for her character in the film. Was there anything special you did to prepare?
A: I wanted to be buffed. I wanted to look totally different than you’d expect Tim Allen to look. I lost 11 pounds and used a trainer. I just wanted to know what that was like. You read about these guys that do that in movies . You think, ‘How did you lose 11 pounds and look like a beefcake?’ Well, you get a trainer for two hours a day, and you don’t eat anything but egg whites. It was horrible. But I liked the results of it. I’ve never looked like that. I felt good and I liked it. I could have gone one step further and lost another four or five pounds and looked like an old guy trying to look young.
Q: ‘Toy Story 2’ is enjoying great success as one of the year’s favorite films.
A: Ther is no question. I hate to even say it in the same breath, but I’m competing with myself. I think it will probably die out, although they are adding new scenes to it this Wednesday (December 22). It’s the perfect film to me. If there was live action in it, it would be at the Academy Awards for both Woody’s performance, probably Buzz in moments, and definitely Jessie. But you are not going to give an Academy Award to a computer generated film, even though I think it is one of the better films of the year. It’s a full story. Eighty-seven minutes, and you want more. You cry, you laugh, you learn something. You don’t hit homeruns like that. ‘American Beauty.’ Of course, you don’t want to take your kid to that. That’s different. That hits ot, but not like ‘Toy Story 2.’
Q: What’s next for you?
A: I don’t know. I have a production company that I’ve had for several years that’s now in full swing. It’s not that I’m not excited about it, but I’m getting frustrated as I go into a production office and talk with my partner and two other writer’s assistants. We’ve got probably seven or eight scripts in development hell that have been on my desk, and some are really ready to go. We’ve got one that we sold to Touchtone called ‘Smile’ There’s one with Barry Sonnefeld that I’m working on. There’s some good stuff. It’s just that I start here, and we do the same thing that we did with ‘Galaxy Quest.’ You start dismantling, saying this doesn’t make sense. I love films, and do not like films that I leave going, “Why would they even do that? That’s ridiculous.” Then you have huge questions, and you end up fixing this question here, and that means this question doesn’t work, then you start this whole process of rescripting and I’m getting antsy to perform something. So I told them if they don’t come up with something, I’m not going to just settle on one. If I don’t get a film, I’m going to go back on the road and just perform clubs.
Q: Was getting out of the rhythm of “Home improvement” a big adjustment?
A: Yeah, and I don’t like it. I was used to going to the studio and rehearsing all day Monday, all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday and I’m getting antsy. I’m walking around my production offices, and I’m just farting around. I’m painting and working on hot rods and going from one project to another. I don’t mind selling scripts and pitching - that’s all that movies are about, and I’m okay at that. I’m actually really good at that, I just don’t really like it. But it’s part of the business. I like working. I like performing.
Q: If you are so anxious to get back to work, would you consider doing another sitcom?
A: I don’t want to do that. I’ve done the best I think that was ever done.