Attention to detail is essential to every Pixar picture. And for the world of Cars, the filmmakers went to great lengths to ensure it was as authentic and believable as possible.
"Research is the key," production designer Bob Pauley says. "You need to understand the subject of your movie. Dating all the way back to Toy Story, John Lasseter has been doing research [for Cars]. We worked really hard at that. Sometimes it would have been easier to do it another way – and quicker and less expensive – but John said, ‘No, no, we’ve got to get this right.’ "
During Toy Story, Pauley and director Lasseter commuted to work together, and discovered they have a passion for cars. Pauley hails from Detroit; his father worked as an engineer at Ford. Lasseter's dad was a parts manager at Chevrolet dealerships, and as a teen, Lasseter worked part-time at one of them. "We would just talk cars all of the time" recalls Pauley. "John used to sav, "We'll make a car movie some day.’ Meanwhile, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2 – all those films drained him, and he was working really, really hard. John was just letting life pass him by."
