The Good Dinosaur hasn’t only received a new story — it’s also received a brand new voice cast.
Back in August of 2013, Pixar announced that Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Hader, John Lithgow, and several other stars would voice the characters in The Good Dinosaur, their story about what would happen if the meteorite that historically wiped out the dinosaurs ended up missing the earth.
But in a press release today, Pixar announced a voice cast that includes only one of the actors they previously confirmed.
The Good Dinosaur’s new voice cast is as follows (descriptions via Disney):
- Raymond Ochoa (NBC’s The Night Shift, TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles, Disney’s A Christmas Carol) provides the voice of an Apatosaurus named Arlo.
- Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) was tapped as the voice of Poppa, Arlo’s father.
- Steve Zahn (Captain Fantastic, Ridiculous Six, Rescue Dawn, Mad Dogs) provides the voice of a pterodactyl named Thunderclap.
- AJ Buckley (TNT’s Murder in the First, FX’s Justified) voices a T-Rex called Nash.
- Anna Paquin (HBO’s True Blood) is the voice of T-Rex Ramsey.
- Sam Elliott (FX’s Justified, I’ll See You In My Dreams, Grandma) was called on as the voice of a tough T-Rex named Butch.
- Frances McDormand (HBO’s Olive Kitteridge, Fargo) was tapped as the voice of Momma, Arlo’s mother.
- Marcus Scribner (ABC’s black•ish) voices Arlo’s brother Buck.
- Jack Bright (Monsters University) provides the voice of Arlo’s unlikely human friend, Spot.
“We were lucky to work with a number of incredible pros along the way and our story ultimately led us to this amazing and talented group,” said director Peter Sohn in a statement. “We’re all taking this journey with Arlo, and it’s been a privilege to see these performers bring our characters to life.”
McDormand is the only actress who is being carried over from the original Good Dinosaur.
Disney did not share why they brought in a new voice cast, but one could guess that the original actors weren’t available to record the new dialogue required for the revamped version of the film.
Interestingly, John Lithgow — who was once a voice actor in the film — said last year that he recorded new dialogue for the movie after Pixar re-created the story. And yet, he does not appear in the new voice cast.
The Good Dinosaur hits theaters this November, and Disney released the first teaser trailer for the film earlier this month. Check it out below:
The Good Dinosaur has experienced a change in directors (which is not uncommon at Pixar) and story over the past several years. “All directors get really deep in their films. Sometimes you just need a different perspective to get the idea out,” said Pixar President Ed Catmull about the change in directors two years ago. “Sometimes directors … are so deeply embedded in their ideas it actually takes someone else to finish it up. I would go so far as to argue that a lot of live-action films would be better off with that same process.”
Before The Good Dinosaur hits theaters in the fall, Pixar will release Inside Out later this month. We saw it in April and loved it.