Bobby Podesta, a directing animator on the film, notes, “Owen has a really great and unique voice, in the sound, in his delivery, and with the comic timing. From the moment he came on board, I suddenly felt that this character had a lot of interest to me. He starts off very cocky, but in this way that you still love him. And that’s hard to do. Owen pulls it off and gave us a great range.”
Directing animator James Ford Murphy adds, “To get some insights into McQueen, we studied famous cocky characters who are also charming. We looked at guys like Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, and even Kid Rock. All these guys are super cocky, but you still like them. Owen was really able to get that across where he says something cocky, but he says it in such a charming way that you almost don’t hear what he’s saying. John also told us to think of this character as being like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan in their rookie years. A character who is exceptionally talented and has seemingly come out of nowhere.”
DOC HUDSON/PAUL NEWMAN: For the role of Doc Hudson, Lasseter and company had the good fortune of enlisting the talents of screen legend and race-car enthusiast Paul Newman.
Lasseter observes, “I’m so proud of this character and thrilled that Paul Newman agreed to provide the voice. Not only is he one of our greatest actors of all time, but his association with racing made him the perfect choice for this role. We were thrilled when he agreed to voice Doc. Paul was great to work with and was really excited to be providing the voice for a car character.”
“When I first got the call asking if I’d be interested in doing an animated feature for Pixar about race cars in which I played a 1951 Hudson Hornet, I told them I found the combination irresistible,” says Newman. “I hadn’t seen a script or anything, I just knew it was Pixar, it was Lasseter, and it was about racing. Those are the three ingredients that I was familiar with.
“The vocal aspect of Doc’s character came very quickly,” adds the actor. “He was Southern, he was old, he was tired, and he was smart. Doing a voice for an animated film is so different from making a live-action film. You bring nothing physical to the role. You don’t bring your appearance or your physical mannerisms; you don’t bring anything except your voice. That’s the only instrument that you have. Working with John was a pleasure and I think we complemented each other. I took a lot of the stuff he said and tried to give it to him exactly as he wanted, and then I tried to augment and exaggerate it.
“I’m really delighted with the way the film turned out, and I think it will exceed anything that Pixar or Disney has done,” concludes Newman. “The race sequences are very exciting, and the personalities of the characters really show through and are so well represented by the types of cars they are. The scenes in the stadium, the skies, and everything in the background are so incredibly detailed.”
According to Scott Clark, “Paul is such a great actor. Every line you get from him has character. You can hear the wisdom and experience and richness in his voice.” SALLY CARRERA/BONNIE HUNT: The character of Sally was based on the design for the 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera. Bonnie Hunt gives a high performance delivery in her third assignment for Pixar.
Movie Database
In Theaters
