Cars 3: Disney franchise back again, this time with a female hero

Brian Fee will never forget the day his daughters told him they couldn't learn a new instrument because it wasn't "for girls".

"They told me guitar is only for boys," recalls the Cars 3 director, speaking to Stuff at California's Sonoma Raceway. "They'd only seen boys playing it. It hurt to think they don't even want to try because they've decided it's for boys. I don't like them feeling anything's off-limits. I want to break down barriers, so my children don't think anything's for boys or girls. 

"The biggest thing I want a kid to take away [from Cars 3] is that anybody – boy, girl, any race, any age can do anything."

Enter yellow 2017 CRS Sports Coupe Cruz Ramirez, an overly-enthusiastic young trainer with her own failed racing dreams, who roars into town to help beloved Lightning McQueen overcome the biggest hurdle of his career. Eleven years after winning the hearts of kids around the globe in a film franchise which has spawned merchandise, video games and even its own section at Disneyland, the racing idol faces the harsh realisation that he's neither as fast, cool nor skilled as he used to be. 

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Heightening his insecurities is the arrival of Jackson Storm, a younger, cooler "weapon on wheels," who threatens McQueen's iconic status in the racing world.

"He's in a mid-life crisis," says Fee. "He woke up one day and realised he can't do the things he used to be able to do. An athlete has an expiration date – their career is over when they're 40. So, what do they do with the rest of their life? Jackson is more high-tech, much faster and comes with an entire generation of new rookies that are threatening McQueen's generation, so we're playing with the generational themes of when kids come in and do your job seemingly better."

In exploring McQueen's dilemma, Cars 3 writers conducted interviews with ageing racers like Jeff Gordon about the difficulty of accepting retirement decades before most people do.

"We also talked about [retired basketballers] Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and how it's a real dilemma for these athletes when you realise your legs aren't as springy," says writer Bob Peterson. "Do you crumble and fail or make yourself into something better? When you reach that point where youth is largely in the rear-view mirror, that's a tough moment."

Technological advancements since the first Cars film mean the world on-screen is now more visually tangible than ever, meaning the "meatier" plotline comes with a version of Radiator Springs, which "feels like you can reach out and touch it". The team at Disney's Pixar Animation Studios displayed a fascinating level of attention to detail, like the hours of research that went into animating mud for an action-packed demolition derby sequence. "Mud was one of the toughest challenges on this film - it's not really liquid and not really solid, which makes it really difficult to replicate in CG," explains effects supervisor Jon Reisch, before presenting images of different mud types from the team's arduous research.

Of course, many of those minuscule details will go largely unnoticed by viewers once the cars roar onto screen – especially cream-of-the-crop, Jackson Storm. In designing their two newcomers, the animation team visited raceways, derbies, auto shows, the Daytona 500 and even random carparks.

Everything about Storm's design was implemented to make him look cooler than McQueen, from his low suspension to his "S" logo, developed from the international symbol for "hurricane" and rivalling McQueen's iconic lightning bolt.

The Social Network's Armie Hammer brought the final design to life. "Storm only cares about himself and winning and doesn't have much regard for his opponents or the history of racing," says directing animator Jude Brownbill. "Armie provided a wonderfully rich voice, which helped us push on these traits of confidence, arrogance and egotism."

Cruz, who was initially a male character, was meanwhile inspired largely by comedian Cristela Alonzo, who turned out to have a parallel story as someone from "modest beginnings seeking success in an unconventional field".

"Cristela talked to us about trying to break into comedy and how hard that was and feeling like she looked and sounded different to everybody else," says writer Kiel Murray. "She was from Texas, had a small-town bringing. We also looked at our own families – my daughter's quick to assume that she isn't going to do well, whereas my boys assume they'll be number one all the time. I did a deep dive into recent studies about girls having less confidence, and we explored that."

Adds Fee: "Our hope is that all kids can relate to Cruz though because everybody knows what it's like to feel like you don't belong." 

Further voice talent came from Scandal star Kerry Washington, who voiced statistical analyst Natalie Certain, and Castle's Nathan Fillion, who took on business-car Sterling.

A huge Pixar fan, Fillion had previously flown himself to Emeryville, California, to visit the studio, which was also behind Toy Story and Finding Nemo. 

"Nathan charmed me the moment he walked into the room," says Fee, who hung in Fillion's Tesla in their downtime. "He sits you down, starts smiling and you're like, 'Yeah, you're the right guy.' He'll give you seven takes and they're all perfect, so whichever one you use, you leave six great takes on the floor. He's high-energy, gracious and very personable."

"And Kerry – she comes in for her first animation session, drove herself, was late and apologises for not having memorised her lines … which is something we do not need to do! She's never done animation before and she steps in front of the microphone and starts throwing out lines as if she's a veteran. She instinctively had it down."

Owen Wilson returns as the voice of McQueen, whose reluctant friendship with Cruz takes centre stage in the film, out on June 22. Introducing a major female character in the popular franchise was overdue, says Murray, who believes the popularity of Cars films among young girls has been underestimated until now.

"That was very clear at the audience preview," she says. "The way women, little girls and mums responded was so giant that even the Disney folks were like, 'Oh, okay.' It'll be fun to see if that carries over into the actual release."

Cars 3 releases nationwide on June 22.