ANAHEIM, Calif. _ Pixar didn't become one of the biggest animation studios in the world by leaving anything to chance. Nathan Fillion, the voice of Sterling in the company's latest movie, "Cars 3," observed while working on the film that with Pixar "nothing happens by accident."
As with all of the company's films, that approach was used on "Cars 3" with every aspect discussed and debated. Three of those areas of discussion included the importance of a more gender diverse cast, how to pay tribute to racing history and where the future of the "Cars" franchise can go.
The first "Cars" had some female fans when it was released in 2006 but the racing tale chiefly appealed to males. One big factor was that the main characters, from the novice racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) to the big-heated tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), in "Cars" were male machines. Makers of "Cars 3" have made some very clear moves to make sure the latest offering in the franchise has a broader appeal.
Director Brian Fee has two daughters and that was enough to push him to make sure "Cars 3" had a very important message: Nothing should stop a person from doing what they want to do with their lives. He got to make that point by including three new very strong female characters: Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), a trainer with a big dream; Miss Fritter (Lea DeLaria), a wild school bus who loves the demolition derby; and Natalie Certain (Kerry Washington), a racing statistics expert.
Just getting the call to be a voice in a Pixar project was a dream come true for Washington because she's been a fan of the studio's work for years. Her joy increased when she found out about the character.
"I started realizing it was very special to have this character who was a statistician be a woman because we talk so much about having girls get involved in technology, science and math," Washington says. "So to have this character be a woman was very important.
"I loved that even with her being as arrogant as she is, she's wrong at the end. She has to learn there are certain things that aren't able to be measured quantitatively. That is usually a quality we assign to men but this girls car has to wrap her head around the idea you can't measure love. You can't measure courage. Those things are what make a champion."
The fact that she's bringing a strong female character to the film was enough for Washington to get past that the description of the role when it was offered to her: to be the voice of a "smarty pants, bossy, know-it-all, arrogant car." Washington laughs and sarcastically adds that she can't understand why they would think of her for such a role.
Screenwriter Mike Rich explains that there was another important reason for adding the character. Natalie reflects what's happening in sports today where the thinking is that math can predict what will happen in any given sport.
That's the future of sports but Isiah Whitlock Jr. got to be part of Pixar's salute to the history of racing. His car, River Scott, is a tribute to Wendell Scott, the first African-American to win a race in the Grand National Series. Scott was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.
Whitlock found doing the voice one of the most difficult jobs in his long career that includes "The Wire," "Veep" and "Pete's Dragon."
"I was voicing this very important, passionate race car driver who was a pioneer. He's a man not many people know about his place in racing history and that is sad," Whitlock says.
Whitlock felt a great responsibility to Scott because he became a winning driver despite living at a time when he would go to towns where he could not buy gasoline or eat at a local restaurant because of the color of his skin. The actor marveled at the courage and determination Scott had to be able to pursue his passion despite all of the limitations
"It was a very personal role for me," Whitlock says. "It's almost impossible not to take a role like this very personal. Once I got familiar with his career, I realized I was not only playing a character but someone who had a long history with NASCAR and was a pioneer who was forgotten.
"If I can shed any light on him, I want to be a part of that."
DeLaria plays Miss Fritter and the demolition derby legend at the Thunder Hollow Speedway is definitely one of the strongest characters in the film � male or female.
She's also the kind of breakout character that Mater was in the original "Cars." The good-natured tow truck appeared in additional animation projects, and Miss Fritter and the rest of the Thunder Hollow gang could easily be turned into their own projects.
DeLaria said she would jump at the chance to keep voicing the character, both because she's a longtime fan of Disney and Pixar animation and because the voice work gives her a completely different kind of role to play than her work as Big Boo on "Orange Is the New Black."
Having two quality series would be a major accomplishment for DeLaria, who spent tears working as a comedian, actor and jazz musician before getting national attention for "Black." Her pervious credits "Californication," "The Oblongs," "One Life to Live," "Law & Order: SVU," "Will and Grace," "Friends" and "Matlock."
The call to be a voice in "Cars 3" is a "bucket list" item for DeLaria.
"I grew up in a small town in southern Illinois and I grew up going to the demolition derby," DeLaria says. "The second I heard she was the queen of the derby I knew exactly how to do the voice. I love that she's female because women are really starting to integrate the sport.
"And, she's so much fun."
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