“Cars 3” Press Day Brings Out Owen Wilson,

Hi everyone!

Cars 3 releases in theaters on June 16th, 2017 and we were invited to the press day to learn more about the new film. Our correspondent went to several different press conferences that day. For this article, the participants were Owen Wilson (Lightning McQueen), Armie Hammer (Jackson Storm), Cristela Alonzo (Cruz Ramirez), Kerry Washington (Natalie Certain), Brian Fee (Director) and Kevin Reher (Producer).

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There was a lot of camaraderie and laughter during this press conference, with the actors and filmmakers  clearly enjoying each other’s company. Considering most had not worked on the previous films, it was fun to see, and there were overwhelming themes of being relatable, female empowerment and family all encompassing the half hour they talked with the press.

Cristela Alonzo spent a lot of the time talking about her character Cruz Ramirez because of the empowerment nature of her new Cars character. She said, “What I like about her is that she’s very good at what she does. But at the same time, she still has doubts about herself regarding the same skill she uses to coach cars to become the best she can be.” Alonzo said that at the end of the day, the message is to do your best and “trust your instincts”. And following up on that from a different question, she expounded on something she’s mentioned earlier on – about the male and female cars not having to be romantic. “We don’t have enough stories with female characters actually in a world with male characters where they get to succeed in a way that isn’t romantic or anything”.

Kerry Washington said (spoiler in this sentence) that, “What’s so special about this film is not that the girl beats the boy, but that they win together”.

Director Brian Fee said “It was a very important movie for me personally”. He has two daughters and he wanted them to have the “freedom and courage to do what they want without any barriers. And if there are barriers, what they need to do to break through the barriers”.

In regards to the oft-mentioned relatability of the characters, Owen Wilson gave credit to those behind-the-scenes. “I think it’s also the animators….there’s something inviting about the expressions, so I think that helped to kind of make the cars more relatable and lifelike”.

Thanks to Disney for inviting us to the press day! See Cars 3 when it opens in theaters on June 16th.