Lightning McQueen
Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen is a fictional anthropomorphic stock car and the protagonist of the Disney/Pixar Cars franchise. He was developed by John Lasseter and co-director Joe Ranft from a story concept by Jorgen Klubien. Lightning's appearances include the feature films Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3, as well as the animated series Cars Toons and Cars on the Road. He is also a playable character in each of the Cars video game installments. Primarily voiced by Owen Wilson, Lightning is recognizable by his red body with yellow and orange lightning bolt stickers featuring his racing number on his sides.
In Cars, Lightning begins as a talented but cocky rookie in the Piston Cup racing series who becomes stranded in the small town of Radiator Springs, where he learns about humility and friendship from the locals. Over his professional racing career, he achieves several Piston Cup victories. In Cars 2, he competes in the World Grand Prix, while his friend Tow Mater is unwittingly dragged into a spy mission. In Cars 3, he struggles to come to terms with retirement and assumes the role of Cruz Ramirez's mentor.
Despite receiving a mixed reaction from critics in the first film, Lightning has become a recognizable face and mascot of the Cars franchise. He has been widely merchandised in the form of branded toy cars and other products. He has been mentioned in commentary by NASCAR racing drivers, including Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher, and his achievements have been discussed by sports journalist Stephen A. Smith. Critics have described him as one of the greatest or most iconic cars in film.
Development
Concept and creation
The concept for Cars originated in 1998. Danish story development artist Jorgen Klubien had the idea to write an animated feature based on an unpopular three-wheeled electric car in Denmark. The car reminded him of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, where a character is not initially accepted but later proves to be a success. He began to write the story concept with the title "The Yellow Car," set in a small town populated by cars rather than people. The story involved the titular yellow car struggling to be accepted by the local residents but eventually earning its place in the community. Pixar Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter liked the concept of a world inhabited by cars presented by Klubien, but felt it would need a stronger character to create conflict in the story. He and co-director Joe Ranft began developing the various car characters, and the Yellow Car was eventually replaced by Lightning.From the start, Pixar's new film project was referred to as Cars. Lasseter decided the main character should be a racing car because it represents speed, power and individuality. The Pixar team focused their research on racing cars, with Lasseter attending numerous races to ensure the film was "authentic in every single detail." The team visited Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte and met with Richard Petty. Story artist Steve Purcell said that meeting die-hard fans and experiencing the track firsthand was the ideal education needed for the film's development. Lasseter also took driving lessons at the Infineon Raceway from Jim Russell Racing School instructors, which became invaluable for giving direction to Owen Wilson, who voiced Lightning.
Lasseter, who had previously worked on Toy Story, had for many years toyed with the idea of making a film about cars, having a particular love of cars and NASCAR racing. Lasseter said he became hooked on cars at an early age after buying Hot Wheels. He cited childhood vacations with his family on Route 66 and the animated films of Japanese producer Hayao Miyazaki as his inspirations. In the summer of 2000, he and his family went on a two-month road trip where they avoided interstate highways, forcing them to take a slower journey. From this experience, he began to develop the story idea for the film. "I discovered that the journey in life is the reward," he recalled.
In 2001, he and a group of Pixar staff took a trip on Route 66. Over nine days, they toured a number of places along the route, including Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, and studied the landscape. Lasseter researched automotives, befriending design chief J Mays of the Ford Motor Company. During development, Porsche 911 coupes were delivered to Pixar offices for inspection by the animators. Lasseter and the production team met with General Motors designers in the early 2000s to discuss the new Chevrolet Corvette design. Cars also reflects Lasseter's sadness over the decline of small towns on Route 66, which he said "died overnight" following the construction of interstate highways after World War II.
Characterization
Pixar's animators found it challenging to inject personality into the characters due to their rigid forms. In early animation tests, the cars featured big smiles and had less rigid tops, but Lasseter decided this needed to be changed to reflect the rigidity of real cars. The animators spent much time working on the face to ensure the characters felt like they were alive, and the grill of the car was designed as its mouth. For the eyes, Lasseter took inspiration from the Disney short film Susie the Little Blue Coupe, in which the character's windscreen panes are used for the eyes. This choice brought other challenges with showing expressiveness. In early tests, the team found the eyes to be too far from their mouths, so animators repositioned the eyelids to improve their expressions.Although most of the car characters were inspired by real models, Lightning was given special treatment. Production designer Bob Pauley explained, "He’s the new rookie, he's kinda sexy, he's fast, he's different." The team combined their favorite parts from different models, including GT40s and Chargers. Directing animator James Ford Murphy said Lightning posed a challenge from the start, as the team knew it would be difficult to create a character that was cocky but also likable. To solve this, Pauley compiled biographies of celebrities with cocky but likable personalities, including American boxer Muhammad Ali, American basketball player Charles Barkley, American football player Joe Namath and American musician Kid Rock. Pauley said the character of Lightning was solidified once they started writing him as an "Owen Wilson character." The movement of the cars was also a defining part of their personalities. The team wanted to bring beauty to Lightning's movement, so they took inspiration from surfers, snowboarders and athletes like American basketball player Michael Jordan. Murphy explained, "We wanted to have that same type of feeling, so that when they're talking about 'the rookie sensation,' you're seeing that he is really gifted."
Art department manager Jay Ward said the theme of the film is expressed in Lightning's character development. He said that, as a racing car, he is entirely self-centered and his goal at the start of the film is to reach the finish line, but by spending time in Radiator Springs, he learns that "life is about the journey, not the destination." He described the racing aspect as the bookends in his story arc, "The racing world he started in and the racing world he returns to, and he is a different character". Lightning is not named after actor and race driver Steve McQueen, but after Pixar animator Glenn McQueen who died in 2002.
Creating the story for the third film presented the creative team with challenges due to Lightning already being a champion racer. Cars 3 writer Mike Rich explained that everything had gone well for the character's career so far, but this was not the best way to begin a story. For inspiration, they considered how real sports celebrities had adjusted to getting older. Their research showed some handled the change well, but others refused to adapt.
In Cars 3, Lightning assumes the same role as Strip 'The King' Weathers, an aging character from the first film, because, like him, he is threatened by newcomer Jackson Storm. For Lightning, Storm represents the end of his beloved sport. After a devastating crash, Lightning finds the solution in the form of Cruz Ramirez, who helps him learn that he no longer has to train like a young man. Story supervisor Scott Morse said, "McQueen is maturing; he's evolving. McQueen's a character that kids grew up with. For kids in particular, to see somebody they're comfortable with going through an evolutionary change, it helps them understand how to do that." Cars 3 director Brian Fee also cited conversations with retiring racing driver Jeff Gordon, alongside his personal experiences of mentoring his daughters, as inspiration for the emotional core of Lightning feeling pride in helping someone else win rather than being preoccupied with his own achievements.
Voice
American actor Owen Wilson voices Lightning in the original Cars film. He returned to voice the character in Cars 2, ''Cars 3 and the television series Cars on the Road. He also voices him in the short film Mater and the Ghostlight and the Cars Toons short "The Radiator Springs 500 ½" and the Cars and Cars 2 video games. Wilson said he was cast in the role as a result of Lasseter and his children enjoying Shanghai Noon'', a film starring Wilson and Jackie Chan. When Wilson met with Lasseter, he told him about the upcoming animated project and thought he would be suitable for the lead role. Wilson admitted he liked the "street cred" he got from his two sons for voicing the character.Design
The Cars production team consulted a variety of experts, including racers, engineers and historians, to ensure the characters in the film had the appearance of real cars. Lightning is not based on a particular vehicle. Lasseter explained that the relative flatness of NASCAR cars, while beneficial for aerodynamics, made the design uninteresting for character design. Consequently, Lightning is a hybrid based on a stock car and a Le Mans endurance racer, which has a more curvaceous body. Lasseter added that the character also has "some Lola and some GT40." His racing number was originally 57, a reference to Lasseter's birth year, but was changed to 95 to refer to the release year of Pixar's first film Toy Story.In addition to his catchphrase "Ka-chow!", Lightning is recognizable by his red exterior, yellow lightning bolt and number 95 displayed on his sides. Throughout the three Cars films, he has a variety of appearances. In Cars, his cocky attitude is illustrated by having stickers for headlights. In Cars 2, he again appears in his red paint but with working headlights. Pixar updated Lightning's design for the sequel. Lasseter wanted him to stand out next to the other World Grand Prix contestants so flames were added to his body due to them being a common style feature of American hot rods. His bodywork took a year to design and involved many contributors, including Chip Foose. In Cars 3, his design varies, beginning the film with a new Rust-Eze logo. During his recovery after his near-fatal crash, he is presented in gray primer. In another sequence, he goes undercover at a demolition derby and is masked by a layer of brown mud. His red design is later updated with a vinyl wrap in preparation for the next racing season. By the end of Cars 3, he is redesigned with a dark blue paint job in homage to his mentor Doc Hudson.
For the Pixar team, these design changes are significant parts of his story arc. Fee explained that in Cars 3, Lightning "spends a lot of time in the movie trying to be somebody he's not." Lasseter said when he gets the vinyl wrap it is symbolic of him returning to his true self. Fee considered Doc Hudson and Lightning to be like father and son, thus Lightning is very emotional to discover that it meant such a lot to Doc to mentor him. For this reason, it is Cruz Ramirez who ends up with number 95, while Lightning displays "Fabulous Lightning McQueen" on his side in homage to Doc, the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet." Lasseter explained that his mentoring of Cruz makes Lightning realize he is in the same position as Doc when he mentored him, adding that the color change was temporary and just for fun: "...He's going to get going, but he'll continue racing."