Nathan Fillion revved up for role in Cars 3
Canadian actor Fillion keen to get on track with his role in Cars 3
ANAHEIM, CALIF. Edmonton’s Nathan Fillion voiced frat jock Johnny in the animated Monsters University. So accepting an invitation back to the Pixar party for Cars 3 was an easy decision.
“I said, ‘Where do I sign up?’ because I’ve always been a huge Pixar fan,” Fillion says.
In the latest animated motion picture, Fillion’s Mr. Sterling is a smooth operator and business car racing sponsor who cajoles Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) into getting a modern makeover.
It seems Lightning isn’t the speedy winner he once was. A new generation of racers has been taking the checkered flag, especially the self-involved Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer).
To get back in gear, Lightning undergoes Sterling’s modern methods, which include working out with enthusiastic young race trainer Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo). For nostalgia’s sake, he also counts on inspirational memories from the late Hudson Hornet.
Some other familiar personalities return. Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt) and Ramone (Cheech Marin) are around to help out Lightning. New, besides Fillion’s Sterling, Hammer’s Storm and Alonzo’s Cruz, is racing expert Natalie Certain (Kerry Washington). NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty and Chase Elliott, among others, also lend their voices.
Whether they’re Pixar veterans or first-timers, the task remains the same. “Listen to what they tell you during the recording sessions,” Fillion says. “Nothing in (Pixar) movies happens by accident. By the time you are in front of the microphone, all the hard work has already been done.”
In this case, the creative team is led by Cars 3 director Brian Fee, who makes his directorial debut after paying his Cars’ dues. He was a storyboard artist on 2006’s Cars and 2011’s Cars 2, which combined to earn close to US$1 billion worldwide at the box office.
Added pressure for Fee arrives with the fact that John Lasseter, now Disney-Pixar animation head honcho, directed the first Cars movie, so he has a soft spot in his heart for the series.
Instead of intimidating Fee, however, Lasseter’s faith in the filmmaker made him more assured that he was up to the test of assembling a third Cars movie, which seems to have more mature themes focusing on aging and female empowerment.
Female empowerment was key for the director. Fee has two daughters, 8 and 11. It’s one of the reasons he changed the trainer character from male to female during the early stages of story development.
For the Hudson Hornet sequences, Fee re-edited unused dialogue from the late Paul Newman’s recording sessions with Lasseter more than a decade ago.
“I felt extremely fortunate we got what we needed,” says the director.
Fillion’s not surprised by the extra effort. “Pixar cares about story most,” he says.
So does the actor who was born and raised in Edmonton, and eventually attended the University of Alberta before heading to Los Angeles for an acting career.
He attained cult status playing Captain Mal Reynolds in Joss Whedon’s short-lived but acclaimed 2002-2003 sci-fi series, Firefly (and he starred in the 2005 film Serenity based on the show). That fame’s been eclipsed by his writer-detective Richard Castle after eight seasons on ABC’s Castle.
Fillion is heading back to Vancouver, where he’s shooting his role in the second season of the Netflix series Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. He also enjoyed a six-episode Modern Family arc portraying weatherman Rainer Shine.
Sadly, his buddy, writer James Gunn, had to cut his cameo in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.
Still, Fillion is excited about what his future holds — a cameo in the third Guardians movie, perhaps — now that the grind of headlining the Castle series is behind him.
“Castle was an incredible success and I made good friends, but it was a crushing time commitment,” Fillion says.
These days the good news is Fillion fans come from assorted demographics.
“I get a mix of Firefly and Castle fans, and you can throw some Modern Family in there, too,” he says.