*May contain Cars 3 spoilers*
Have you ever wondered how a Pixar movie came to be? How the story came along? Have you ever watched a movie and wondered, what were they thinking? (The good way, of course!) I had the chance of a lifetime on my recent press trip to Sonoma Raceway for the Cars 3 press day. We were able to meet several AMAZING people and learn about "The Story Of Our Story". This presentation was presented by: Mike Rich (Writer), Bob Peterson (Writer), Kiel Murray (Writer) and Scott Morse (Story Supervisor).
The "Cars 3" Long Lead Press Days, held at Sonoma Raceway, including presentations by the "Cars 3" writers (left to right) Mike Rich, Bob Peterson and Kiel Murray and Story Supervisor Scott Morse, held on March 28, 2017 in Sonoma, Calif. (Photo by Marc Flores)
A little bit about these creative minds:
Mike Rich is a screenwriter. He has been for more than 15 years. Some of the films he has written and worked on include Finding Forester and Secretariat. Cars 3 is his first time working for Pixar and his first time working in animation!
Bob Peterson is photographed on November 19, 2014 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Bob Peterson- Bob is a 23 year veteran at Pixar. He his a story and screenwriting veteran. Bob was a star supervisor on Monsters Inc, writer on Finding Nemo and Co-Director and writer on UP, the voice of Doug, Roz and Mr. Ray!
Kiel Murray is photographed on December 12, 2016 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Kiel Murray is a writer on Cars 3. She was also one of the original writers on the first Cars movie!
Scott Morse is photographed on January 6, 2012 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Scott Morse is the story supervisor on Cars 3. He has been at Pixar for over 12 years! He worked on movies that include Ratatouille, Wall-E, Brave, Cars 2 and now Cars 3!
The storyline and when it started!
We learned that this storyline started in 2014! YES, that is correct! Mike Rich told us that he received the call just before Labor Day 2014. He received the call from John Lasseter. (John Lasseter is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and producer, who is the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and DisneyToon Studios)
He mentioned that when looking at McQueen, he didn't have a problem. He didn't have a dilemma. At his last race, he was on top of the world. He was a champion racer. Things were going well for him. He said that part of the reason Pixar wanted him to come on board was because he worked on films that dealt with sports in the past and sometimes larger than life.
He said you have to have something they can come back from. They wanted to take McQueen and make him vulnerable and take him down a notch. To explore this, they looked at big athletes that were going through a similar thing.
Bob Peterson told us they talked about Kobe Bryant as he aged and his injuries as well as Michael Jordan. These guys were on top of the world and then they had these issues. They also looked at Jeff Gorgon who was about to retire. What do they do next in their life. Do they retire? Do they keep going?
The "Cars 3" Long Lead Press Days, held at Sonoma Raceway, including presentations by the "Cars 3" writers (left to right) Mike Rich, Bob Peterson and Kiel Murray and Story Supervisor Scott Morse, held on March 28, 2017 in Sonoma, Calif. (Photo by Marc Flores)
The writers took from real experiences they watched happen. Kobe Bryant's famous 3 am post for example. He took to Facebook after his huge injury asking "What do I do now?". During the research for this movie, they took road trips to get more info.
Bob Peterson: "It’s one of the most fun part of this process is living in the material, living in the source of the material."
During research, they went to Daytona 500 and sat in the stands and watched how fans would react. Mike also said that sitting in those stands he saw fans with McQueen shirts on! A moment at the race they took was Dale Earnhardt Junior taking the lead. This is when they had their story, they knew what they were going to do. McQueen would face a new set of drivers performing at a better level than him. When they were at Daytona 500, there was a museum and library. They learned about the old timers. The characters like Wendell scott and LouisSmithth. These people had obstacles just to go on the track. They had their "puzzle pieces" for the story, now they had to put it together.
More about the story coming together
Mike said that they had about 4 pages together and they had to present to John Lasseter, he was telling the story and when they got to the third page, he looked up and a single tear rolled down John Lasseter's face.
Mike Rich "For me I thought afterwards, that’s the closest I’ll ever getting reading a script to Walt Disney."
The story was in place, now it was a dilemma on who he would be paired with. You have to have side characters. a side character needs to push that character to learn what that character needs to be. That is when they came up with Cruz Ramirez. Let me tell you now, her character is AMAZING. The knew that McQueen did not want to grow old. He wanted to stay viable. Who would be the one to push him there? Cruz would be. Cruz was a trainer. A trainer who wanted to be a racer herself but feared being so young, she wouldn't make it. Cruz is a spitfire. The writers realized that McWheen is the star, but Cruz needs to have her moment and shine too. You will see in the movie when you watch it as for what I am talking about.
Cars 3 writers Bob Peterson and Kiel Murray with Director Brian Fee during a story review, as seen on February 9, 2017, at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
I loved the idea of having a female character with such a big role in the movie because you don't see that often in the sports world. You don't see that often in the racing world as well. I can't say much more without giving away the whole movie, but it was amazing seeing and learning about the story behind how Cars 3 came to be and why they chose who they did and what they did to make this movie come to life.
Cars 3 is in theaters June 16, 2017.
Be sure to check out the trailer below to get even more excited for this film!!
I am fascinated by how grown adults come up with such cute kids stories! My nephew loves Cars!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great opportunity this was. It was interesting to learn the story behind the story. We cant wait to see this.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting! I love hearing about the making of movies. We enjoy the Cars movies and we're looking forward to seeing this one!
ReplyDeleteLove the movie. Can't wait to see new one.
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