Brian Fee the Director of Cars 3 and Kevin Reher the Producer recently sat down with myself and twenty for Bloggers to share the inside scoop on Cars 3. We discussed animation, the viewer experience, the voice of Paul Newman, what were their first cars, and how the movie all came together. The interview shed light on the importance of Cars 3 and folks believe me there is message for an audience of all ages. Cars 3 is the perfect family movie with just the right amount of humor and excitement. 

Let’s Talk Animation

When Kevin and Brian spoke about animation and why during certain scenes in the appeared to be so realistic Kevin shared with the group that the team at Pixar uses a device called a render that provides that effect and the goal were for the audience to get a sense of realism.

(Brian) “We have a new render that can make things look wholeheartedly into a sense of realism. We wanted to be able to control how you feel, but we want you to feel like you can smell the air.” After hearing his response, I thought how cool it that Pixar always thinks outside of the box when it comes to creativity and viewer experience.

Kevin and Brian shared with us their communication with the team if they felt this went too far with the scenes appear too “real” Kevin responded “The animators get a little jumpy at times they only have eyes and mouths to animate. I mean regarding getting an emotion across and so sometimes they get a little bouncy on the suspension I go okay we’re not watching the car bounce around they are steel so you must remember that they’re steel and four thousand pounds, not rubbery characters that can do all that kind of movement”.

Viewer Experience and Voices of Characters

There a lot of messages in the film what message would you like for families to take from the movie?

(Brian) “For me, it still is the most important part for me personally as a parent, my mother passed away, my father is getting older, and I looked at McQueen’s and Doc’s relationship as a father and son relationship. You could see it as a mentor-mentee. However, people plug into it in their own lives. I have that moment- middle of my life my mom’s passing away and you kind of feel that safety net that you’ve always had. The moment where you get just a little scared that everything you’ve ever known is dropping. I have two daughters, and I realized I’m their safety net they look up to me I’m playing that role for them and it’s kinda hard to erase the fear. I had of losing my parents not that I don’t want to see them go, but it gave me new strength that a sense of purpose in life. So, to me, I look at McQueen’s on that same transition. You may think you’re losing something, but the best thing is still in front of you”.

(Kevin) “For me, it was the Doc Hudson McQueen relationship, and my dad died, and I was the car kid, my brother was the sports kid. And he never got to see even Cars One, and so the whole McQueen Doc stuff just slays me”.

Their First Cars “Classics”

What were your first cars?

(Kevin) “Sixty Four Falcon Futura convertible”.

(Brian) “You have such pride”. [Laughter]

(Kevin) “The only thing that wasn’t manual on it was the top and it also had leak- it had a thing called leak hole and the rain gets diverted, it got diverted into the back seat so when you put the brakes on, the water would come up around your ankles and then when I put the gas on it completely [Laughter] and I had a coffee mug that I would just bail the car and we were living in Northern California”.

(Brian)”Mine is not that fun of an answer, I was in high school, it’s like ‘what can I get with this many dollars’ [Laughing] it 1981 Oldsmobile, I guess Cutlass Supreme gray. It had the dashboard cracked and the smell that comes along with a car that’s old enough to have a cracked dashboard [Laughter]. I’d still Armor All it, you know, I’m going to put lipstick on this pig until the end”.

The Voice of Paul Newman and “Doc Hudson

Doc he had such a presence in the film and of Paul Newman is no longer with us, so I’m curious about the process went I know you used old recordings, how did that come together?

(Kevin)” The Newman Foundation was very generous with us, and we let them know that this wasn’t just a marketing trick that this was an integral part of the story. We had all these recordings of Open Mic that John had recorded from Cars 1. It’s emotional when you hear it we used the old Doc line you think I quit they quit on me, which mirrored what had happened to McQueen”.

(Brian) “Originally we tried a sound, but It just wasn’t working decided that we have to find the lines and cross our fingers that we’ve got the right lines to help us tell the story.”

(Kevin) “We also did the same thing with Tom Magliozzi with Click and Clack, and we went back to his producer who lives in Berkeley. He helped us go back to the original Cars tapes”.

Kevin and Brian also share with us that the making of Cars 3 started six years ago with emails steaming back to 2011.

Cars 3 Now In Theaters