First Look At Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astronomist Weasel In ‘Ice Age: Collision Course’

Ice Age: Collision Course is the upcoming fifth movie in the extremely successful franchise about a group of prehistoric animals surviving just about every natural calamity in Earth's history. The natural disaster in Collision Course – an impending asteroid collision course with Earth. The filmmakers decided to place an astronomy expert into the movie's narrative with such a plot, and who better to voice such a character than one of pop culture's leading experts in the field.

Ice Age: Collision Course therefore stars astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson as the voice of astronomy expert Neil deBuck Weasel (the name even has Tyson's ring to it). However, the character isn't exactly an existing one, since Weasel is only part of Buck's (Simon Pegg) imagination, but will be helpful to him and his friends as they try to stop the asteroid from destroying Earth.

Of course, casting Neil deGrasse Tyson and naming a character after him wouldn't be complete without creating the character in his likeness. This is apparent in two exclusive first look photos from Entertainment Weekly showing Weasel. Check them out:

Image Credit: Blue Sky Studios (via Entertainment Weekly)

Image Credit: Blue Sky Studios (via Entertainment Weekly)

Director Michael Thurmeier said of casting Tyson:

We were super intimidated pitching to him.

It came up in a story meeting: Wouldn't it be funny if we have Neil deGrasse Tyson come out? And we all laughed, because he's the most famous astrophysicist on the planet right now…and then we thought, ‘Well, why not?'

Apparently, the filmmakers of Ice Age: Collision Course were right in their choice, as Tyson was a natural voicing the character. Thurmeier said:

We were asking him questions all the time. We're in the booth, we get to a scene and say, ‘Here's what we're thinking,' and he's like, ‘Okay, thatcouldwork because, you know, this is actually the mineral make-up of asteroids in space. We were mining him for information for whatever scientific plausibility we could put into the story of mammoths stopping an asteroid.

The movie stars returning cast members John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Ray Romano, Simon Pegg, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, and Adam Devine. Newcomers include Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jessie J.

Movie Synopsis:

Scrat's epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, highs and lows, laughter and adventure while traveling to exotic new lands and encountering a host of colorful new characters.

I have a feeling this could be the last we'll see of Manny and the gang.

Ice Age: Collision Course hits theaters on July 22.