Tow Mater
Tow Mater is a fictional anthropomorphic tow truck and major character in the Disney/Pixar Cars franchise. His appearances include the feature films Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3, as well as in the TV series Cars Toons and Cars on the Road. Mater is also a playable character in each of the Cars video game installments. He is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy.
In Cars, Tow Mater is the local tow truck who owns and operates his own towing and salvage yard in Radiator Springs and is the first vehicle in town to support Lightning McQueen. They quickly become best friends. In Cars 2, Mater heads overseas to act as Lightning's crew chief in the first ever World Grand Prix, but inadvertently becomes involved in international espionage after being mistaken as a spy. In Cars 3, Mater is a supporting character who stays behind in Radiator Springs while Lightning travels to the Rust-eze Racing Center, but gives advice to him on how to defeat Jackson Storm later in the film.
Critical reception of the character was mixed. Following his debut in Cars, Mater was described as the series' breakout character and made prominent appearances in Cars animated series and short films.
Development
Concept and creation
Mater takes his name from construction superintendent and die-hard NASCAR fan Douglas "Mater" Keever, who was later invited by Pixar to provide the voice of one of the motorhome characters watching Lightning McQueen race at the beginning of the film. Cars director John Lasseter met him in 2001 while conducting research for the film at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte. Upon meeting Lasseter, Keever introduced himself by the nickname he had been given in childhood: "My name's MaterYeah, like tuh-mater, but without the tuh." This line was eventually used by the character in the film. Keever explained that the nickname originated in him throwing tomatoes around his family's farm. Lasseter was immediately interested in him as he felt that he was a definitive NASCAR fan. Although the cheerful truck character was originally intended to be a flatbed, Lasseter realised that the concept was not working and came up with the idea of a tow truck instead, using Keever's nickname as a pun to create "Tow-Mater".File:4 Women on the Route.jpg|thumb|right|The former Kan-O-Tex Service Station and the 1951 International Harvester tow truck that inspired the design for Mater
Mater's driving skills include a claim to be "the world's best backwards driver," an ability inspired by Dean Walker, a Kansas Historic Route 66 Association president known in Riverton as "Crazy Legs Walker, the Ambassador of Crazy Feet on Route 66" for his ability to twist his feet backward and walk in reverse. The Pixar production team met Walker during a nine day tour of Route 66 guided by historian Michael Wallis in 2001 and decided to include his ability in the film. Wallis was keen for the production team to incorporate aspects of the people that they met on the trip into the car characters to make them more human. He also said that Mater's character was inspired partly by "a troubadour in Erick, Okla., who wears a redneck tuxedo" named Harley Russell. According to Wallis, Mater's appearance was inspired by "a rusty old tow truck" that they came across in Galena, which he knew would end up in the film. Wallis recalled the moment that inspired Mater's design: "There was an old wrecker in an empty lot by Route 66 in Galena, Kan.,... Joe Ranft, the studio's head of story and a key member of the Pixar team, stopped and noticed it, and Mater was born." The inspiration for the character was a 1951 International Harvester tow truck that was used to pull equipment from the lead mines of Galena and, following the release of the film, was parked outside the former Kan-O-Tex Service Station as a tourist attraction. Due to copyright reasons, Disney requested that the truck be renamed, so the owners decided to call it "Tow Tater".
Voice
Tow Mater is voiced by American stand-up comedian Larry the Cable Guy. He said that he loved voicing the character because it was completely different to anything he had done previously. He is the voice of Mater in Cars, Cars 2 and Cars 3 and also voices the character in Mater and the Ghostlight, Cars Toons and the Cars video games. Lasseter entered into talks with Larry the Cable Guy after watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with co-director Joe Ranft and found his performance hilarious. Lasseter said, "His accent was so thick, but you could understand everything he was saying". He described him as the "funniest comedian you will ever see. Sweet and irreverent."Recalling his first voice recording session for Mater, Larry the Cable Guy said that he was encouraged by Lasseter to voice the character in his own way after stating that he would not say the lines in the way they were written. According to his voice actor, Mater was originally going to be named Zeb. Larry the Cable Guy said that he was relieved that the Pixar team decided upon the name Mater because he thought it sounded cuter. He joked "'My name's Zeb, like web, only without the wa.' You know, it wouldn't have had the same ring to it". Pixar's senior vice president, Rick Dempsey, said that finding regional voice actors for international dubbings of the Cars films proved to be a challenge due to Mater being "kind of a redneck", which would have little meaning in other countries. For all 44 translations, the team had to work out which areas or dialects would depict "more of an uneducated population without being offensive".
Characterization
Tow Mater is a rusty tow truck and the owner of Tow Mater Towing and Salvage in the small town of Radiator Springs. He is the loyal best friend of Lightning McQueen and deeply values their friendship. Mater is characterized by his cheerful and honest personality, but he also enjoys telling stories to his friends. Lasseter described Mater as "loveable" and "a sweetheart". He considered Larry the Cable Guy to be the embodiment of the character. For Cars 2, Lasseter wanted to give Mater more growth and focused the film on the character's friendship with Lightning McQueen. He explained that Mater's innocence is a core aspect of the story, illustrating this in the moment when Mater realises that the other car characters are not laughing with him but laughing at him.Appearances
''Cars'' filmography
''Cars'' (2006)
Tow Mater is a jolly, outgoing tow truck who lives in Radiator Springs, a near ghost town on historic U.S. Route 66. He owns a salvage yard called "Tow Mater Towing & Salvage", but after the town was bypassed by the interstate, has not seen any real work in years. After meeting Lightning McQueen in the impound for destroying the town's main road, he tries to befriend him. After a few days of being mostly ignored, Mater manages to talk Lightning into joining him for his favorite hobby "tractor tipping", which results in the pair narrowly escaping Frank, a large red combine harvester. On the drive home, Mater shows Lightning his special move, the ability to drive backwards with extreme precision, dubbing himself the "world's best backwards driver". Lightning is amazed by this ability and slowly begins to open up to Mater about his fast-paced life as a Piston Cup racecar. After Lightning agrees to let him go on a helicopter ride if he wins the race, Mater declares that he made a good choice in choosing Lightning as his best friend. Mater is later disappointed when Doc Hudson forces Lightning out of Radiator Springs. He is excited when Doc is revealed to be a former champion and brings Mater and the other residents to help Lightning in the tie-breaker race. During the race, Mater serves on Lightning's pit crew. Afterwards, he rides in the Dinoco helicopter that Lightning promised him above Radiator Springs.''Cars 2'' (2011)
When Lightning McQueen returns from a long Piston Cup season, Mater spends all day with him until Lightning leaves to meet Sally Carrera at the Wheel Well in Tailfin Pass. Mater sneaks in and acts as their waiter, but gets distracted by the announcement of the World Grand Prix on the Mel Dorado Show. When Francesco Bernoulli claims that he is a better racer than Lightning and starts insulting them both, Lightning decides to become a competitor. He invites Mater to join him as his crew chief and they head to Tokyo for the inaugural race. At the pre-race party, Mater is mistaken for an American spy by British Agent Holley Shiftwell after Rod Redline, the real American agent, is caught and plants his intel device on Mater. Mater is mesmerized by her beauty and falls for her immediately. During the first race, he meets Finn McMissile, but costs Lightning the win in the process, resulting in him lashing out at Mater. Feeling rejected, Mater decides to return home, only to be drawn back into the spy mission by Finn.Finn invites Mater to join them in meeting an informant in Paris. From there, the trio head out to Porto Corsa, Italy, where Mater receives his first task to infiltrate a secret meeting being held by the Lemons in order to find out who is the mastermind sabotaging the racecars in the World Grand Prix. Mater learns that the Lemons intentionally made the alternative fuel Allinol defective to drive more profit into their oil business. When Lightning chooses to continue using Allinol during the final race in London, the Lemons decide to kill him. Mater immediately blows his cover, resulting in him, Finn and Holley being tied up and waiting to be crushed by the large gears inside Big Bentley.
After escaping Big Bentley, Finn and Holley go after Professor Zündapp while Mater rushes to Lightning's pit stall in the midst of the race to warn everyone about a bomb. He learns that the bomb is actually inside his air filter. Before doing anything, Lightning spots him and tries to apologize to Mater for his outburst in Tokyo, leading to a high-speed chase between the two ending in a final confrontation with the Lemons. Mater quickly realizes that Miles Axlerod is the mastermind behind the plot and is granted an honorary knighthood by the Queen. After returning home, Finn tells Mater that he has approval from the Queen to take part in more spy missions and Mater declines, but competes in the unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix with Lightning.