“I’m still that 25-year-old needy actor,” insists two-time Emmy winner Tony Hale. “Once there’s an opportunity, it’s like: Really? Me? Seriously?”
Hale’s latest chance to get in front of audiences comes this weekend in Toy Story 5, playing Forky, Pixar’s closest approximation to Kierkegaard, a philosopher-utensil that is simultaneously horrified and delighted by the realities of his own free will.
Forky’s introduction came in Toy Story 4, starting life as a plastic spork who was then fashioned into a toy thanks to some artful placement of pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks by Buzz and Woody’s current kid, Bonnie. Having started life as single-use plastic, he is convinced his rightful place is in the trash until persuaded by Woody that he is meant for a different destiny.
Forky comes with the kind of interior life that could power even the haughtiest of awards season performances, but he just so happens to be a supporting character in Pixar’s foundational franchise. Fits of existential crises aren’t often combined with animated children’s comedy, but who better to walk that precarious tightrope than Hale, the man who has spent decades spinning angst and anxiety into comedy gold.
Forky has shades of Buster Bluth, the socially inept youngest sibling in Arrested Development, and Gary Walsh, the always available aide in VEEP, who brings co-dependence to dizzying new heights. (The latter role earned Hale both his Emmys.)
In Toy Story 5, which sees Jesse go toe-to-toe with a tablet for Bonnie’s attention, Forky picks up largely where he left off in the last film. He’s a trouper in Bonnie’s toy box, who is more assured in his status as a playtime pal but still has a fair share of existential musings. One big life update: He is due to be married to the googly-eyed plastic knife named Karen Beverly. Hale points out, “He works fast, I might add, because he was introduced in 4 and he’s already found somebody.”
For Toy Story 5, Hale went in for two recording sessions with co-directors Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, who let Hale really let loose in the booth for Forky’s second feature film foray. Hale says it was typical of the Pixar experience.
“During the recording of [Disney+ short series Forky Asks a Question], I said, ‘I don’t know’ a lot,” remembers Hale. “And you’re saying it so many times, you think, gosh, how many different ways can I say ‘I don’t know’? They will be like, ‘Let’s be a little louder, a little softer, now you’re really curious, now you’re not so curious, now you just make it a statement.’ Then, all of a sudden, 30 minutes pass and you’re like, wow, ‘I don’t know’, really has a spectrum there.”
Outside of the recording booth, Hale relishes the opportunity to send voice memos from his alter ego. A teacher friend recently had her class make their own Forkys and played a note from Hale: “She says, ‘Guys, Forky just wanted to say how good of a job you did.’ And then she played my voice and they are like ‘What!’ It’s just magical.”
On the street, he will get approached by parents who tell their five- and six-year-olds that Hale is, in fact, their favorite Toy Story character, and they look at him with a fair amount of skepticism. “You can see in the kid’s face, like, “That’s not Forky.” He has figured out a workaround, though, “What I say is, “You know what? Forky asked if he could borrow my voice.” I say, ‘You’re absolutely right, he just borrowed my voice.’ And then the kid’s like, ‘Oh, okay, I got it.’”
Woody and Forky in Toy Story 4.
Courtesy of Disney/Pixar
Toy Story 5, which has received near-universal praise and has been called Pixar’s best sequel since Toy Story 2, is coming out in the middle of a busy time for Hale. He just starred in Jennifer Lopez’s latest rom-com, Office Romance, playing the ever-suffering head of HR in charge of enforcing the company’s strict no inter-office dating policy. “As you get older, it’s about the experience,” says Hale when asked why he signed on for the film. “It was just a good set. People were willing to play, because what you don’t want with comedy is, ‘It sounds like this… it has to be something like this…’ It was just free.”
Hale is saying all of this while on the set of his next movie — Nancy Meyers’ long-awaited return to the director’s chair. He narrates, “I just walked by a grip stand with a sign that said ‘Nancy’s crew.’ Isn’t that so sweet?”
The movie, which will be Meyers’ first since 2015’s The Intern, follows a filmmaker and producer who fall in love after a successful string of projects, but break up and then have to reunite for a high-profile film with a group of volatile stars. Hale shares a call sheet with Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Owen Wilson and Jude Law. Hale laughs, “It’s like always looking around, going which one of these is not like the other.”
As for Meyers, he offers, “She’s just the real deal, and she’s so relaxed. Not only does her sets always look comfortable, like the design and world of her movies, but she’s just so good at what she does, and creates this really easy set where everybody feels comfortable.”
While filming the Meyers movie, Hale finds himself back in Los Angeles. Two years ago, Hale relocated from L.A. to Birmingham, Alabama, after his daughter graduated from high school, to be closer to family. In Alabama, parking is never an issue, and everything is approximately ten minutes away from everything else, but being away has made him recognize the inherent camaraderie that comes with living in a city full of people working in and around entertainment. Every coffee shop is filled with writers, actors and other creatives who are trying to figure out their next job, which is how Hale sees himself.
“That’s something about this business, I have no idea what surprise is gonna come this week or what calls I might get,” says Hale, who says he often checks his own expectations and leans into a general sense of gratitude. “It’s just so exciting, and I don’t ever want to lose that. The hustle of it is tough, but it makes you so grateful when those jobs do come around.”