The brainchild of Pixar's John Lasseter (Toy Story, A Bug's Life), Cars is the story of a hotshot race car named Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) who finds himself in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs while on his way to one of the biggest races of the season. Stuck in Radiator Springs for a while, Lightning McQueen is befriended by the town's odd collection of citizens - including a 51' Hudson Hornet called 'Doc Hudson' (Paul Newman) - who teach the young upstart there are more important things in life than racing.

According to Lasseter, casting Newman in the car-related comedy was a natural choice. "We called Paul Newman because he was one of the greatest actors ever, but also [because of] his love of cars and his love of auto racing," said Lasseter. "I thought he could lend a lot to the character of Doc Hudson. It was far more than that. When we talked to him and he said yes and we were finally working with him, he got so invested in this film."

Paul Newman?s Love of Cars - and Cars: Newman, whose first car was a 1937 Packard which ran well enough to get him from Wisconsin to New York, fell for the sport of auto racing after starring in Winning. He?s remained passionate about the sport since then, but without Winning as part of his filmography, Newman doubts he would have wound up involved in racing. ?I don't think so, no. It was just good fortune that we started that project when we did. And I took to it very slowly. ...It happened at exactly the right time.?

While the critically acclaimed actor?s love for racing and cars is well-known, Newman said his initial attraction to the movie Cars was due more to the behind-the-scenes team than the film?s subject matter.

?I did it mostly because I knew it would be good, because [John] Lasseter was directing and Pixar,? explained Newman. ?That would be the first reason. That it was about racing was just a bonus.?

Newman said he admires Lasseter and Pixar because of their extraordinary sense of detail. ?And they don?t get rushed, which I think is critical. They have the luxury of control and they have the luxury of time. And that gives us a terrific effect. Let alone the gifts that they have.?

Newman continued. ?I?ve seen the Pixar films and this one especially, I think, has got an extraordinary [style]. I think the challenge of the crowd scenes was particularly well realized. If you look at the depth of focus of some of these animated shots, it?s quite extraordinary. How would you like to sit down and be responsible for the grandstands with 2,000 cars sitting there and make each one of them somehow different? They?ve done an extraordinary job, technically.?

The Logistics of Doing Voice Work for Cars: With most animated films, the actors who lend their voices to the project aren?t normally afforded the opportunity to actually interact while creating their characters. Newman did however get the chance to work with Owen Wilson, the voice of the young hotshot Lightning McQueen in Cars. ?We worked together, actually I think I did four or five sessions with the microphone and Owen was in one of those, so we worked together for a half a day,? said Newman. ?[He was] very spontaneous. He was inventive.?

So how does a method actor like Newman prepare to play a car? Newman said, ?Well, the nice thing about animation, you don?t even really have to account for yourself. All of the physical stuff that you work on as an actor, you just throw away. So this was, I would say, relatively easy.?

The actual voice work itself was an interesting process. ?I found it very vivid and invigorating because you can have a line and you can say that it?s wrong and you can just jump on it and do it 60 different ways very back-to-back. You certainly can?t [in live action films where you have to wait to] get the lights going and 15 minutes passes before you get another crack at it. This way is wonderful, because you can just keep improvising and improving on it or making it completely different or changing words. You just have a lot more freedom.?

The Connection Between Enjoying Making a Movie and Enjoying Watching It: ?Well, there are so many ingredients that go into the making of a film. That?s one of the reasons why I like racing. It?s a very simple sense of winning. It?s down to a thousandth of a second now and electronically and that?s a very uncomplicated conclusion. There?s so many things that go into making a film. The director, the actors that you're working with, the time that you have to rehearse, whether you catch up with a character in time? There are so many different ingredients that go into making a performance. It?s pretty hard to tell which performer performed the best. Somebody may have started out with a piece of junk and brought it up past mediocrity until it was pretty damn good. And another guy starts off with a beautiful script and deliciously defined character and marvelous director, comfortable schedule, and he?s got everything going for him. I would give the credit to the guy in front of him.?

Continued on Page 2