Trivia / Cars 3

• Awesome, Dear Boy: Armie Hammer was heavily influenced by the tone and message of the original film, as well as being a fan of vehicle-based movies in general, when he first watched it, and was more than happy to voice a character in the sequel.
• B-Team Sequel: John Lasseter wasn't involved with either the directing or writing.
• The Cast Showoff: Cruz and Lightning’s rather humorous Gratuitous Raps (the former’s workout routine, the latter’s apology to the former) are meant to show off the singing talents of their voice actors. Larry the Cable Guy also gets to sing as Mater in the scene before receiving Lightning’s FaceTime call.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: As usual in the franchise, Fernando Alonso and Antonio Lobato appear in the European Spanish version. This time it also features media mogul Paolo Vasile replacing the late Italian actor Danilo de Girolamo as Guido's voice. In the Italian version, Girolamo is similarly replaced by racing pilot Alex Zanardi.
• Cultural Translation:
  • As usual in the previous installments, the European Spanish version turns one of the characters into Formula One champion Fernando Alonso As Himself, this time Hamilton, who was originally based on and voiced by Lewis Hamilton.
  • In the German and Italian versions, Hamilton becomes Sebastian Vettel.
• The Danza:
  • The automated speed-tracking assistant, in several versions, is named after its voice actor. The original version is voiced by Lewis Hamilton and it's called Hamilton, the European Spanish version is called and voiced by Fernando Alonso, and both the Italian and German versions are voiced by Sebastian Vettel (the assistant is called Vettel in Italian, and Sebastian in German).
  • A few NASCAR racers voice their fictional versions.
• Deleted Scene:
  • There would have been a flashback scene of Doc collapsing while racing with McQueen before flashing to his passing, similar to Ellie's death scene. The creators chose to delete this scene as it was "too depressing".
  • "The Boogie-Woogie" — Cruz is shown to be experienced with outdoor racing unlike in the film. She also does a funny dance routine right before she and Lightning race each other at Fireball Beach.
  • "Lug Nuts" — An alternate version of the scene of Lightning's argument with Cruz and her revealing her dream of becoming a racer.
  • "Jars of Dirt" — Cruz talks about her former mentor who helped her learn to race before she quit, and Lightning learns how important racing feels to her.
  • "The Bolt" — Before heading to Florida, Lightning learns the true meaning of what Cruz does before she races.
  • "More Than New Paint" — Sterling reveals to Lightning that he took him off the racing circuit and rips his #95 off before giving it to Cruz, but Tex hires him on the spot as the Dinoco racer last-minute and gives him Doc's navy blue paint job and #51 in return so he can enter the race after all.
• Enforced Method Acting: Lightning's "YES IT DOES!" during the "naming tires" scene was spontaneous; Brian Fee points out in an interview this particular line came from Owen Wilson snapping at him for repeatedly saying "Does this make you mad?" no less than ten times.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: When Cruz's outdoor treadmill finishes setting up, it plays the Mac boot up sound. Doubles as a Mythology Gag, as Pixar used to be owned by Apple Computers founder Steve Jobs (the same gag appears in WALL•E).
• Market-Based Title: In Japanese, the film is titled Cars: Crossroads, while in German, the film is titled Cars 3: Evolution.
• Meaningful Release Date: The DVD/Blu-ray release date is November 7, the same as the first film's home media release date exactly eleven years ago.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Bob Peterson replaces Michael Keaton as the voice of Chick Hicks most likely due to the latter being too busy filming Spider-Man: Homecoming.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Héctor Lama Yazbek recorded new dialogue for Doc Hudson, but for dialogue originally from the first movie the late Pedro Armendáriz Jr.'s voice work was kept intact.
  • In the Spanish dub, the film could have become this due to a voice actor strike. Disney decided to dub the film without any of the original actors but the strike finished in time to redub their lines. The dub stayed the same for the new characters and characters whose voice actors were not available (either retired or passed away).
  • As Danilo de Girolamo, Guido's voice actor in Italy and Spain, passed away in 2012, he was replaced by racing driver Alex Zanardi in the former and by media mogul Paolo Vasile in the latter.
  • In the Polish dub, Mater is now voiced by Marian Opania, because his voice actor from the previous two movies and from Mater's Tall Tales, Witold Pyrkosz, died several months prior to the movie's release.
• Posthumous Credit:
  • Paul Newman, the original voice of Doc Hudson, died in 2008 from lung cancer. However, the film used dialog that Newman recorded during production of the first film as a way to have him "reprise" his role as Doc.
  • Also, Car Talk host Tom Magliozzi reprises his role as one of the Rust-eze sponsors, despite his death of Alzheimer's disease in 2014. (Tellingly, all plot-specific dialogue goes to his living brother Ray, with Tom's character either nodding along in affirmation or spouting catchphrases pulled from Car Talk and the first Cars film.)
• Reality Subtext: The Florida International Super Speedway is an obvious reference to the Daytona International Super Speedway, right down to the logo etched into the infield. Even the race it holds, the Florida 500, is a reference to the Daytona 500, both races of which are the start of their respective racing seasons.
• Refitted for Sequel: The film heavily focuses on how Lightning is affected by the absence of Doc Hudson. John Lasseter had previously considered this subplot while writing Cars 2, following the real-life death of Paul Newman in 2008, but it was ultimately scrapped for that film.
• Role Reprise: Via archival audio, the late Paul Newman reprises his role as Doc Hudson from the first film.
• Sequel Gap: The film is released six years after Cars 2, though it acts more as a direct sequel to the first movie, which was released eleven years before Cars 3.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise:
  • As per tradition with the past two films. Two major examples involving Cruz, as two of her diecasts spoil her with the paint jobs where she takes over as racer halfway through the Florida 500 and when she joins Team Dinoco and is done up in her current racing getup, the latter which is featured in loads of promotional art. One of Lightning's diecasts also spoils the "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" getup he tries out at the end of the movie.
  • Roughly two months before the movie's release, a storybook titled "Lead The Way" was published. This book's artwork highly features Cruz in her racing getup, spoiling the finale of the movie.
  • Basically Cruz's Dinoco getup has been featured in a number of promotional shots and as a life-sized replica for the Road to the Races tour and the premiere, spoiling the finale long before the movie was even released.
  • In 2018, a diecast of Cruz with her own hauler has been released, once again spoiling the movie’s finale. However, the trailer looks nothing like the one Lightning and Mack show her in the credits.
• What Could Have Been: Has its own page.
• Word of God:
  • Jay Ward stated on Twitter that Lightning and Sally are still dating, and are not married yet.
  • In an article on USA Today, John Lasseter states Lightning changed into a Doc Hudson-esque paint job at the end of the movie to experience what Doc did. He adds Lightning just changed his getup for fun and it won't be permanent, and is bound to return to his original getup. He also says he'll only be Cruz's crew chief for a short time to get her going, and he'll continue racing. A section in the Essential Guide confirms this.
• You Sound Familiar: In the Canadian French dub, Sterling is voiced by Tristan Harvey, who also voiced Brent Mustangburger in both the second movie and Planes.

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