Interesting facts about the movie Cars 3

Cars 3 in theaters June 16th

Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez

Once again I was lucky enough to get a pixie dust email with an invite to the Cars 3 junket and get to interview the talent of the movie: Owen Wilson (voice of “Lightning McQueen”), Armie Hammer (voice of “Jackson Storm”),  Cristela Alonzo (voice of “Cruz Ramirez”), Kerry Washington (voice of “Natalie Certain”), Nathan Fillion (voice of “Sterling”), Lea DeLaria (voice of “Miss Fritter”), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (voice of “River Scott”), Larry the Cable Guy (voice of “Mater”), CARS 3 Director Brian Fee, CARS 3 Producer Kevin Reher, Ray Evernham, Press Conference Moderator.

The junket took place at the Anaheim convention center where the movie premiere was going to happen and we were so excited to see all the magic happen.

Interesting Facts about Cars 3

• Filmmakers included four NASCAR drivers in “Cars 3” to represent the film’s next generation of racers: Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace.
• Filmmakers added four characters to the film that were inspired by real NASCAR legends, Junior Johnson, Louise Smith, Wendell Scott, and Henry “Smokey” Yunick
• Lightning McQueen made his rookie debut in “Cars” in 2006; more than a decade has passed since he was a young superstar.
• Lightning McQueen still sports the dynamic #95 with his signature lightning-bolt graphics. The design of those graphics is a hybrid of his look from 2006’s “Cars” and his look in 2011’s “Cars 2.”

Photo credit: @DangerCupcake

• ​Wilson says the idea of mentorship really resonated with him, now a father of two. “As parents you try to teach your children,” he says. “You want them to learn the lessons you’ve learned along the way and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls. I think it applies to the world of ‘Cars,’ too
  
• Producer Kevin Reher says the story is reflective of real-life champions. “Lightning McQueen has been racing for more than a decade,” says Reher. “He’s struggling with the kind of issues a lot of athletes face later in their careers. Do you go out on top or fight till the end?”
• “‘Cars 2’ was a spy caper that was fun and exciting,” says Jay Ward, “but it was really more Mater’s story. In ‘Cars 3,’ we wanted to get back to Lightning McQueen and the warmth and depth that resonated with so many people in the first film.”
• Cruz Ramirez is a key character with a compelling and emotional story. In order to give her a dynamic range of motion and expressions, character riggers gave Cruz a total of 656 controls, including 360 for her body and 296 for her face—the mouth, lips, teeth and tongue have 216 controls alone
• Story supervisor Scott Morse says the story team wanted to highlight the emotional core. “We really focused on the relationships between the characters,” says Morse. “We wanted it to feel like a true sports film, but this movie has always wanted to be a mentor story. We wanted Lightning to realize what their relationship meant to Doc.”​

Photo credit: @DangerCupcake

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