Disney Pixar’s Cars 3 Interviews with the Director and Producers

June 16th is just 10 days away! Cars 3 will officially open in theaters – we can’t wait! If you’re a fan of the Disney Pixar’s Cars movies, you’ll definitely want to check out today’s coverage. These are the Disney Pixar’s Cars 3 interviews with the Director and Producers that took place just a few weeks ago at Sonoma Raceway. In case you missed it, check out this post I wrote on the making of Cars 3 and the Cars 3 story post for more information. Now onto those interviews!

I was invited as media to cover this event. All opinions are my own.

Pixar’s Cars 3 Interviews

We sat down with Producer Kevin Reher, Co-Producer Andrea Warren and Director Brian Fee for more on the making of Pixar’s Cars 3. Here’s what they shared with us.

When asked how they came up with the story line of what Lightening McQueen would face in this film, Brian shares: “With McQueen, it just took a little research. We started talking to Jeff Gordon, [and] other athletes and we started seeing people who were at the top of their game who were big celebrities, who had it all and [were] facing the expiration date that all athletes have.” Adding, “I think everybody in the world probably has that feeling that they know what it’s like for someone younger to come in….a next generation. You can start to feel like you are no longer valid anymore. So it seemed like an honest thing to latch onto.”

Q: Can you take us behind the scenes? Like having Owen in a sound booth, how many sessions does he have to work on his own?

Brian shares, “Oh, it was a pleasure.  When we get Owen in the booth and now it’s actually McQueen. McQueen is saying those lines…it’s really great working [with him]. One of my fondest memories with Owen is him looking at the lines and stopping and saying, ‘this doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m not so sure this would–. Wouldn’t the character do this?’ He’s also a writer, so he wears his writers hat when he’s in the booth. We’ll talk about a scene and he’ll start giving me new options and we’ll play around. Often what ends up on the screen is something that wasn’t necessarily on the page that we started with. It’s as close to improv as you can get in the animation world.”

Q: What about Nathan Fillion and Keri Washington? What did they bring to these characters?

Brian explains, “Nathan’s very charming and he kind of charmed me the moment [LAUGHS] that he walks in the room. He is a pleasure to talk with and he’s one of those guys that gives you seven takes, they’re all perfect, they’re all different, but they’re all perfect. He’s very high energy and he’s very gracious.” Kevin added, “Nathan loves animation, he flew himself up to PIXAR to meet us before we even cast him, just because he loves animation and wanted to come and see PIXAR.”

Brian shares a story about meeting Keri for her first recording and she apologized for being late, and apologized again for not knowing all of her lines. “That was just very sweet and then so she’s never done animation before. She steps in front of the microphone and starts throwing out all the lines as if she’s a veteran, you know…..she kind of instinctively had it down.” He also shared how at one point during the recording he found Keri playing right to him, “she was just giving me the eye daggers. And I actually [LAUGHS] I actually felt her eye daggers going through my head. And I, ‘yup, there it is.’ Yeah, she was wonderful.”

Q: Can you talk about following in the footsteps of John Lassiter, what if anything you wanted to add to this film?

Brian tells us, “I think two things….it was John’s world. Right? John created it and John Lassiter, he allowed me to play with his toys, so to speak. And I needed to hold tight to these characters that he created.  They’re the world’s characters at this point, so the audience has a certain expectation of the characters that they fall in love with. And I need to respect that and make sure that we stay within lines of that story wise.”

Q: There are many angles in the story,  which one can you relate too?

Kevin said, “Retirement. Dinner party of one, here.”

Andrea shares, “I really love Cruz’s story. I just find her to be such as admirable, likeable character. I think she finds herself, she’s very passionate about racing and she’s in this world where, she’s a little bit of a fish out of water. Yet she really makes her mark, and throughout this movie I love that we get to know her more.”

Brian answered, “That, I’m of two minds I guess because I have two daughters and one day my daughters told me rather abruptly that certain things were for boys and certain things were for girls. And if something was quote for boys, they automatically didn’t have an interest in it. There’s a part of Cruz where I see my daughters, so that storyline is very important to me. And also as a parent of said daughters you know, McQueen’s story line of the moment that you wake up and realize what it really feels like to be a parent and what it really feels like to help somebody do something.”

Cars 3 Easter Eggs

A tradition in Pixar movies are finding Easter Eggs…and just how many can people expect to find in the new one? Brian tells us, “You know, I will probably never know how many Easter Eggs are in Cars 3, because believe it or not people put them in without me even knowing it.”

Here’s just a few to get you started:

There’s a scene where the characters are going into the woods at night, and the sets department put a moons shine still in the woods.

There are Frisbees on the roofs like they always do in Pixar movies.

Andrea shared, “We always put a nod to the film that’s coming after us and so we do have a little nod to CoCo in the film.”

You’ll also see something recognizable to Pizza Planet from Toy Story as well.

Brian adds, “I will probably be a very old man by the time I find all the Easter Eggs myself.”

I hope you enjoyed hearing about these Disney Cars 3 Interviews!

Don’t forget Disney Pixar’s Cars 3 is in theaters June 16th! Check out this trailer below:

You Are Also Going to Love: