Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: cars

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’ Director on Paying Homage to Ray Harryhausen

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’ Director on Paying Homage to Ray Harryhausen

    With the Cars on the Road series hitting Disney+, we finally get a chance to discuss some of the fun additions. Earlier concept art even dating back to last year’s Disney+ hinted at an episode including the duo of Lightning Mcqueen and Mater in prehistoric times. As it turned out, the episode also was a way for the animation team to pay tribute to Ray Harryhausen‘s claymation era.

    In an exclusive interview with the creative team behind Cars on the Road, Steve Purcell shared the initial inspiration for tackling this episode and why they decided to include a tribute to Harryhausen. Plus, he praises his animation team for managing a way to bring that unique animation type to live in a new medium.

    I think in that case it was really specifically wanting to see that and I think it worked because it’s in a dream environment. It helps to separate that world from the regular world but I had this itch I wanted to scratch. I wanted to see this world animated in that style and I thought our animator’s swung for the fence and they hit it.

    Steve Purcell

    Furthermore, he also highlighted that they used the opportunity to pay homage to Harryhausen with the way they animated the prehistoric T-rex-inspired car.

    There’s a little homage in there where the dino kind of let’s go and waits for a minute and then snaps him up again. It goes back to any kind of dinosaur movie from the 30s or 60s.

    Steve Purcell

    It’s great to always see how these stories come together and use the opportunity to pay tribute to the animations that paved the way to the modern era. It also sounds like a unique challenge for the animators that wanted to add a special flair to what the Disney+ series has to offer.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Steve Purcell Talks Exploring New Sides of Familiar Characters

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Steve Purcell Talks Exploring New Sides of Familiar Characters

    Cars on the Road will take the unlikely duo of Mater and Lightning McQueen out of Radiator Springs out into the world. The new Disney+ series offers a new perspective on these characters and the world they live in. It’s a simple concept that also uses the opportunity to pay tribute to many films and franchises that have come before.

    In an exclusive interview with Steve Purcell and the creative team behind the project, he reveals that the main idea of a road trip was the first concept that came together. He also highlighted the excitement of taking these well-known characters and introducing them into new scenarios.

    I think the road trip idea came first and then we started adding the sort of baggage of what kind of place it would be fun to see them in, because what we love about the characters: We know what they’re going to be like so what would they be like here or be like here, and so I think that’s what was cool about working on this.

    Steve Purcell

    Purcell went on to highlight that the idea of blending these stories with different genres or even paying tribute to iconic films came naturally afterward. They started adding them to the different locations once they had the high concept together. He also highlighted that the initial pitch also included many more episodes that could’ve potentially explored similar ideas.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy Teases New Aspects of Mater in ‘Cars on the Road’

    EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy Teases New Aspects of Mater in ‘Cars on the Road’

    The Disney+ shows from iconic franchises have become the best jumping-off point for us to explore characters we’ve spent years with from a new perspective. While Marvel explored many iconic characters, Pixar is using this opportunity as well with the upcoming Cars on the Road adaptation. Lightning McQueen and Mater are off on a road trip to visit his sister; a new addition to the franchise.

    In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, Larry the Cable Guy shared what it was like getting to explore new aspects of this iconic character. Though, while he’s excited to get a new look at Mater’s family history, he’s, even more, excited for people to see new dynamics between him and Owen Wilson‘s McQueen.

    There’s so many things that people will learn from it I think. Another cool aspect, Mater and McQueen: you see them in the movies, there’s a scene with them there, then McQueen’s out with Sally. But Mater and McQueen are together the whole time, it’s Mater and McQueen. And so, just like any best friends, you’ll see some stuff like generally Mater and McQueen don’t get mad at each other, [but] they have a couple of tiffs. But the cool thing about it is, in the end, they’re best buddies and there’s no way, nothing, that’ll separate that friendship.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    He also praised how the great thing about this show is that it gives them more time together, and lets us get a better look at their dynamic beyond just the brief sequences we have in the films. The road trip concept also forces these two friends to hang out together quite a bit and even explore their dynamic from new perspectives, such as seeing them end up in some fights.

  • No Other ‘Cars’ Spinoff Series Currently in Development

    No Other ‘Cars’ Spinoff Series Currently in Development

    Cars on the Road is the first non-short collection from Pixar and their first true venture into long-form storytelling on Disney+. It’s a big step with a popular franchise that has been a merchandising paradise for the House of Mouse. So, it wasn’t too surprising that the franchise would return with a new series but it looks like they are still trying to test the waters before rolling out more.

    Director Bobby Podesta has pointed out during Cars on the Road‘s official press release that there are currently no other series based on Cars in any form of development. It seems that we’ll only get to enjoy the road trip of Mater and Lightning McQueen for now.

    Well, we don’t have any Cars series in the making as of this moment, I’ll say that. But we would love to make more. And the schedule was we made the whole series in about a year and a half, which is a pretty tight timeline for Pixar to make this, you know, this amount of content.

    Bobby Podesta

    He doesn’t state that they aren’t interested in exploring more series in this universe, but it seems that Pixar is taking it one step at a time. Also highlighting that the series was made in a record time of “a year and a half” could also be one of the reasons they want to see how it pays off in viewership. Even with a younger demographic, there’s a chance some kids will love this series and watch it over and over again. One of Frozen‘s big selling points even to this day was just how much kids loved playing it on loop.

  • REVIEW: ‘Cars on the Road’ Has Something for Everyone

    REVIEW: ‘Cars on the Road’ Has Something for Everyone

    The Cars franchise has varied in quality throughout its three cinematic releases, but there’s always been something quite charming about the friendship between Owen Wilson‘s Lightning McQueen and Larry the Cable Guy’s Mater. Pixar knew what the film’s strengths were and with each project kept that at the base of its hard; no matter where the story leads it. That very same thing can be said with Pixar’s true first animated series, Cars on the Road.

    Across the various episodes, the duo is on the road for a few days to take part in the wedding of Mater’s sister. Besides the surprise revelation of Mater’s family background–which has quite a fun twist that doesn’t overstay its welcome–and some more fun between the leading pair, there’s something quite special with the Pixar series. Each episode is its own little storyline that offers something quite fun and a great time.

    Steve Purcell and his team tried to offer something fun with each episode, such as playing around with different genres, film tributes, and generally just taking these iconic characters and putting them into surprising scenarios. While one episode explores the pre-historic history of the Cars universe with a Ray Harryhausen animation twist, another will give us The Shining with a vehicular twist.

    The series doesn’t revolutionize anything and there’s no real need for it to do so. From the opening, the show knows exactly what it’s about and doesn’t try to be anything else. What helps with that aspect is that these episodes are pretty digestible. You’ll get through an episode in just around seven to eight minutes, which includes credits and it helps give each episode a quick pace.

    The show goes by fast and still has its memorable moments. McQueen goes through quite a bit of hell this time around, as the poor guy has to live through a haunted mansion and even face his fear of clowns; a highlight of the season. Mater is as enjoyable as he’s always been and the show doesn’t change their characters much; mostly just sees how their personalities would work or even clash depending on the situation.

    We also get some new additions this season with characters like Quinta Bruson‘s Ivy and Dana Powell‘s Mato. They are fun additions but don’t really take much of the focus away from our leading duo. There is a point in the story where they make it seem like they’ll have someone joining them for the road but that storyline is swiftly scrapped. In a way, it did make you wonder why they included it besides for a few gags and it was a shame not to explore how their dynamic would change with a new friend tagging along.

    The animation is great and everyone looks the way you’d expect them to. As stated earlier, there is an episode that pays tribute to claymation that highlights the attention to detail. A lot of this series feels like a love letter to the many genres and films where the franchise started. There aren’t any major twists and turns but a simple joyful ride with two close friends.

    Cars on the Road is just a great time and has something for everyone. Kids will just have a blast with Mater and McQueen’s usual dynamic while also enjoying how these two play off of each other. In the meantime, adults will get a blast out of Easter eggs from Mad Max, The Shining, and more sprinkled throughout the series. In a way, it could be the perfect jumping-off point for anyone wanting to spark their kid’s curiosities about some classic films when they start asking why a bunch of cars are driving through the desert challenging strangers to survive the Thundercone.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    Mater has become a staple of the Cars franchise and even many children’s toy boxes. Even with the many different toys, video games, shorts, and anything Disney could get out of the character, Larry the Cable Guy continued providing his voice for the many iterations of the character.

    Now, he’s venturing out into the first TV series based on Cars with Cars on the Road, and in an exclusive interview, Larry the Cable Guy shared how he recorded most of his projects in the past and compares his latest experience to working on the various Mater-centric shorts throughout the years.

    I have a studio at my house and that’s where I did all the toys, and games, and that kind of stuff. The movies, I’d go out to Emeryville. […] For the shorts, I think I’ve done it so long that the producers and directors trust me enough to know what I’m doing. We all get along and they write such great stuff, they trust me, I am very happy about that.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    He highlights how many different venues they have nowadays to release the series and he could’ve imagined Cars on the Road as shared just how much fun they had recording for this project.

    We laughed so hard, each one of these episodes we’d get to laughing so hard. I’d throw something out, they’d throw something out. We would go: “Let’s take a few seconds!” because we were laughing. I mean there is really funny stuff in there.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It definitely sounds like they had a lot of fun and he teased in the interview that he also had the chance to improvise; giving the scenes their own dynamic as well. He’s voiced the character for so many years and through many different mediums, but he still shares his joy of voicing this character to this day.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    There are many iconic duos in the world of cinema but many might have a fond childhood memory of the unlikely duo of race car Lightning McQueen and Radiator Spring’s sweetheart Mater. While we last saw the two together in the third Cars film back in 2017. Luckily, the duo return with their original voice actors once again reuniting, McQueen’s Owen Wilson and Mater’s Larry the Cable Guy.

    Having had the chance to interview Larry the Cable Guy during the press for the upcoming Disney+ series, Cars on the Road, the actor shared some insight into what it was like working with Owen Wilson again even with the pandemic keeping them apart. It sounds like their work dating back to 2006 has made it easy for them to know how the other voices their character even without being in the same room.

    The cool thing about Owen and I: we’ve done it for so long, we’ve done so many projects. I know which direction he’s going, and he knows which direction I’m going. So, if Owen’s in the studio and he throws out a new line and they put that in the script when I go up to do mine; obviously if they are reading Owen’s line to me, I already know which inflection Owen already used, I know what he sounds like in my head before I do mine. So, when I do my line I know it’s going to match to what he said, because we know each other’s inflection and we know what each other person is thinking because we’ve done it for so long.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It sounds like the pandemic couldn’t keep the duo from bringing their iconic characters to life. There’s something about realizing just how long Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy have been working together. It also shows what kind of bond they have developed over the years.

  • Initial ‘Cars on the Road’ Pitch Included “Twice as Many Stops”

    Initial ‘Cars on the Road’ Pitch Included “Twice as Many Stops”

    Productions change a lot from when they are initially pitched. While some pitches tend to focus on the overarching storyline and feeling the series is going for, others tend to have a stricter outline. In the case of Cars on the Road, it seems that they had quite a few episodes already mapped out as revealed by writer Steve Purcell, who pitched the series initially.

    In the official press conference for the series, he reveals that the biggest change was the number of episodes that made it into the final release. Purcell initially pitched twice as many stops before they started cutting down on what fits the story best. He doesn’t give away what they would’ve consisted of but it seems that they wanted to focus on finding a nice balance when bringing the series to life.

    Yeah. When I first pitched the idea, we had twice as many stops. And so we’ve sort of arrived at an order that we felt was working. And sometimes we would pull one out and put another one in, a different idea. Looking for just the right selection and the kind of, you know, alternating between day scenes and night scenes and kind of, you know, out in the desert opposed to in a forest or something like that. So it was really trying to structure it so it felt like a nice variety of places and it felt like you were going from one place to another along the way.

    Steve Purcell

    He does highlight that perhaps there’s more to come and teases that he has “10 more ideas sitting out there” that could be a part of another road trip for Mater and Lightning McQueen.

    But there’s still, you know, 10 more ideas sitting out there that we hadn’t used.

    Steve Purcell

    Given the Cars franchise’s success, it seems unlikely to expect this to be the last we see of them. So, we’ll have to see if the series’ upcoming Disney+ Day release will signal a second season renewal. Who knows if they might even have it planned and are just trying to build up the momentum once the series hits Disney+?

  • ‘Cars on the Road’ Director Reflects on History with the Franchise

    ‘Cars on the Road’ Director Reflects on History with the Franchise

    Pixar’s Cars franchise is making its grand return with the upcoming Cars on the Road Disney+ series. It sees the return of franchise veterans Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable guy to voice Lightning McQueen and Mater once again, as they make their way on a crazy road trip like no other. They aren’t the only veterans returning, as the series has a directing trio behind it that has all worked on the franchise since the first one was released back in 2006.

    Steve Purcell, Brian Fee, and Bobby Podesta have a long history with their work on the series, and when discussing how they approached the project during the Disney+ series’ official press conference, Fee got a chance to reflect on how their history with t. He also highlighted how knowing these characters and working for so long, they could still bring in their unique perspectives.

    We all three go back to Cars One. So, it’s in our DNA. It’s in our blood. We were all in story on Cars One. Bobby was also in animation. So, we’re all just so heavily rooted into these characters. It’s like these characters are part of our family and we all understand them, you know, on that level. So, I think it almost took care of itself as far as how do we make sure they’re in line enough. So, how are we representing, you know, what people expect from this franchise? And then I think the beauty, for me anyways, the joy of working, directing with these guys is we all have slightly different personalities.

    Brian Fee

    It definitely sounds like the series will be a Cars entry through and through, even with the new format. It also helps to have the original voices for its leads back, as they embark on a different kind of story. Who knows if this potentially opens up many other spinoff series from the Cars universe, especially as each of the directing trio might potentially add their own voices to explore new corners of the franchise.