Earlier today, Pixar’s Brad Lewis and Jay Shuster delivered a keynote address at the AutoWeek Design Forum in Detroit. They spoke about Cars 2 and offered up a few details about the upcoming film. While nothing substantial was revealed today, the two from Pixar provided some fascinating tidbits. As Lewis is the co-director of the film, I assume he did a great job of maneuvering between what details he should and should not provide. Still, if you would rather go in to the film knowing nothing, here is your last chance to click away.
I’ve listed the details below:
- The night races at the Singapore Grand Prix served as an inspiration for the film
- Some of the characteristics of Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) have been inspired by James Bond
- As seen in the trailer, Finn McMissile’s namesake comes from his ability to shoot missiles from his headlights. He also has machine guns on the side of his vehicle
- Holley Shiftwell, who is paired with Finn McMissile, can be viewed as the “Bond girl” of the film
As it was a keynote for AutoWeek, they also discussed some of the real-life cars that the film’s characters are based on: Finn McMissile is modeled after a 1960s Aston Martin:
A few of the villains are modeled after an AMC Pacer and Gremlin:
Perhaps the following characters were based on the above cars:
It is always great to see some of the sources that influence Pixar characters and locations. Something that is repeated often is that those at the studio do a ridiculous amount of research in order to ensure what graces the screen is authentic. Cannot argue with that!
All of the information and the picture of Lewis and Shuster above (Image Credit: Roger Hart) comes from a write-up on the keynote. Read the great article on AutoWeek’s official website.
I leave you with a few tweets from those in attendance. First up is a quote from Brad Lewis: “The story drives every decision we make.” Nothing new here. It’s just a great quote that really does drive home just how important story is to Pixar.
The second tweet I wanted to share with you is an intriguing one. I know it got me thinking. It is another quote from Brad Lewis: “Mater imagined in Cars 2 as a Hitchcockian Cary Grant.” As a fan of Hitchcock, I approve! Now, let me go mull that statement over.
