Cars 2 director John Lasseter
(2 of 2)
How did Larry the Cable Guy become your ideal Mater?
Joe Ranft, my co-director on Cars, was kind of Mater as well. [Ranft died in a car accident in 2005.] We had listened to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour together, with the four kind-of-redneck comedians. When it got to Larry the Cable Guy, I was on the floor laughing. His accent was so thick, but you could understand everything he was saying, so we started talking to him about doing the voice. It was early in his career, and now he is one of [Pixar's] best friends. He is so dedicated. With other people, you get them for the movies, but you have to get soundalikes for the toys or games. Not with Larry. He has the Pixar record for doing the most recording sessions.
He's a little divisive though, isn't he?
That's what is so funny — he is gigantic in between East Pasadena and Newark, New Jersey. He is huge, but the urban folks don't quite get him. I have seen him perform so many times and he is the funniest comedian you will ever see. Sweet and irreverent.
And he's just like Mater?
That's him, you know.
Cars 2 includes an homage to Paul Newman, whose character, Doc Hudson, was the elder statesman of Radiator Springs. Newman died shortly after making the original Cars, and now the Piston Cup, McQueen's big race, has been renamed the Hudson Hornet Piston Cup. Did you cast Michael Caine as Finn McMissile to try to fill those elder-statesman shoes?
First of all, Paul Newman and I became very close friends. I loved that man. I went to a number of races with him and shared his love of racing. Every time I went to New York, I would have dinner with him and Joanne. We have lost a few of our voice actors in the past and had to find soundalikes, but I just couldn't do that because Doc Hudson was Paul Newman.
Early in the development we were looking at possible voices for Finn McMissile, and we always had this idea that we wanted him to be old-school spy. We wanted Holley Shiftwell [the younger spy car, voiced by Emily Mortimer] to be more high-tech and Finn to be more old-school. So we started looking at these fantastic old spy films from the 1960s, including ones that Michael Caine was in, like The Ipcress File and the other Harry Palmer films, and he became the real inspiration for Finn. It was just unbelievable to get to work with Michael Caine. He would turn to me and say, "I wish this was a live action film, I want to play this character." And I'd say, "You already have!"
Can we talk about the future of 3-D? Roger Ebert is campaigning against it, and in recent months, we've seen a drop in ticket sales for 3-D films. Part of it is the sticker price, but as a parent, I'm also resistant to all that stuff jumping off the screen at us. Pixar's 3-D is the gold standard for subtlety and elegance, but are you worried?
I love 3-D. I have been a big fan of 3-D for a long, long time. I took my 1988 wedding pictures in 3-D! The way that we use 3-D is to help you immerse yourself in the story. We don't really do the coming-at-you stuff; I believe that pops you out of the movie. Everything I do as the director and producer is to get people into the story. [Ideally] you are not thinking about anything until the movie is over, and we use 3-D to enhance that. In Cars 2 there were so many elements that were designed for 3-D, like Holley and her transparent computer screen that pops up — that looks so cool in 3-D. And so many of the action scenes are staged with 3-D in mind. There are some people that don't like it, and that's why we have theaters that show it in 2-D. But all Pixar movies are made in 3-D.
And will be?
Yes.
You're celebrating Pixar's 25th anniversary with Cars 2 and you celebrated the 20th with Cars. Does this mean anything or just coincidence?
We didn't really plan that. But I am proud to have the movies that I'm directing come out in those big years.