Nathan Fillion, Larry the Cable Guy, Lea DeLaria & Isiah Whitlock Jr. Talk Cars 3

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

If you caught my exclusive interview last week with Owen Wilson, Kerry Washington, Armie Hammer, and Cristela Alonzo, you already know how much fun these Cars 3 press junkets have been. This time, I had the incredible opportunity to sit down with Nathan Fillion, Larry the Cable Guy, Lea DeLaria, and Isiah Whitlock Jr., and I have to be honest, getting to interview Nathan Fillion was a genuine bucket list moment for me. I am a massive Nathan Fillion fan, and I can confirm that he is every bit as charming, dashing, and ridiculously good-looking in person as you’d imagine.

Cars 3 opened last Friday and poses one of life’s great questions: “Do you go out on top, or do you fight to the end?” To explore that theme, we sat down with Nathan Fillion, Larry the Cable Guy, Lea DeLaria, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. for a wide-ranging conversation — and Larry the Cable Guy even wore sleeves for the occasion!

(Side note: one of the most fascinating things I learned during this interview is that Larry the Cable Guy’s real name isn’t Larry at all — it’s Dan! He was doing stand-up comedy and was a huge rodeo fan, so he tried a rodeo cowboy character that got a laugh. The next day, he switched it to a cable installer. A friend suggested he call a morning radio show and pretend to be a cable guy, so he did, and when they asked his name, he came up with “Larry” completely on the spot. It caught on, got him syndicated in Orlando, Tulsa, and Baltimore eventually across 27 stations and the rest is history. He was still doing standup the whole time, making those calls in between sets. When promoters added “Larry the Cable Guy” to comedy show billboards, he started selling out every night, so he eventually committed to performing his whole show as the character. It was entirely an accident!)

The four of them had us laughing so hard we could barely get through our questions. Honestly, we spent more time cracking up than actually conducting the interview.

On Improvising

Larry the Cable Guy shared that improv has always been part of his process:

“I always do improv. I remember when I first did it, my opening line was ‘my name’s Mater, like Tomato, without the To,’ and I went ‘Hey. My name’s Mater, just like To-mato, without the To!’ He was laughing and I asked, ‘Well, can I do it another way?’ He told me, ‘Do whatever you want, as long as you’re staying close to the script’ — and that’s when all of the ‘dadgum’ and ‘gee!’ started coming about. There was a part where Mater was supposed to be singing a song and they said, ‘Look, we need something else — just come up with something,’ so I went home and wrote a bunch of limericks. Generally when I’m doing my lines free from the script, I’ll do it just like the line, then say ‘hey, let me try this one’ — and that’s usually the one where they go, ‘Oh, that’s good.'”

Nathan Fillion’s answer, on the other hand, had us completely rolling:

“It’s so weird. Because when I improv, they always go, ‘That’s great – stick to the lines.'”

That is peak Nathan Fillion, and it’s exactly why I adore him.

Nathan Fillion on Playing Sterling

Nathan Fillion plays Sterling in Cars 3, a character he’s previously described as “charming.” We pushed back on that word, and his answer was brilliant:

“I always find that ‘charming’ is one of the more misleading directions when you’re reading a script. People see ‘charming’ and they go skeevy. Charming people are not so much interesting as they are interested – they’re saying, ‘You are great. You are wonderful. You are the best.’ In this case, as a businessman first, I think Sterling puts Lightning McQueen in a ‘you are the best, you are the greatest’ place – but with an ulterior motive.”

We also asked Nathan Fillion why he wanted the role, and his answer reminded me why he’s such a genuinely lovable human:

“What called me to this is an opportunity to work with Pixar. I’m not going to lie – I’ve been to the Pixar facility twice. I’ve seen every Pixar movie. I’ve seen the Pixar documentary four times. I am into Pixar. Nothing happens in a Pixar movie by accident. They tell the story one pixel at a time. It’s very careful, very methodical filmmaking, and to be a part of it, you know you’re going to be part of a story well told – and it’s going to be beautiful, and it’s going to last. Over and above anything else, I will do anything for Pixar. Point of fact, I actually did some janitorial work for them two weeks ago. I’m not picky.”

THIS is why I love Nathan Fillion. He’s as much of a geek as the rest of us – just funnier about it. If Pixar called any of us, we’d all say yes without hesitation.

Lea DeLaria on Miss Fritter

 Lea had zero hesitation about joining the film:

“Why would I want to be Miss Fritter? Have we seen her? She’s awesome. Her stop sign is a buzz saw. She’s terrific. Also, I grew up where they do stock cars. Demo derby was a big deal where I’m from – a tiny town at the very tip of Illinois right by Kentucky. That was Friday night entertainment. So the idea of being the queen of the demolition derby? Awesome. And they let me put the name of my actual high school on the side of the bus. The people of Belleville, Illinois are going to go nuts.”

Isiah Whitlock Jr. on the Emotional Weight of the Film

“I found it very emotional. I found myself tearing up and kept saying, ‘Okay. Think about something else.’ I was glad I brought my sunglasses so I could put those on and pretend I was just sitting cool in the movie theater. I think the story’s going to be powerful.”

He is not wrong. This one takes you through the full range of emotions.

On Social Media

Before our interview, Larry the Cable Guy and I had actually been chatting on Twitter, and I asked what questions I should ask him. His response?

“how do I stay so attractive and fit”

I nearly died. Larry elaborated on his approach to social media:

“It’s a good way to talk to your fans. My Facebook has over five million people on it – I always keep it updated and keep it funny. Twitter I love because it’s more manageable. I have almost 500,000 followers. When the kids go to bed, when my wife goes to bed, I hang out on Twitter and just talk to people. Back in the day, if one of my favorite baseball players or actors had actually responded to me online, I would have been a fan for life. That’s the cool thing about social media.”

Nathan Fillion echoed the sentiment:

“Engagement is a fantastic word. It’s a way to connect with your fan base that doesn’t revolve around work or publicity. You’re entirely in control – you can be personal, you can share, and there’s nothing between you and the fandom at that point.”

Lea added her own perspective:

“My fan base because of Cars and Orange Is the New Black is now much younger than it used to be, so they’re on Instagram. I post every day, I try to respond – especially to direct messages. As an openly gay activist, I get a lot of people DMing me about real problems, and I take that very seriously.”

Do Their Cars Look Like Them?

We wrapped up by asking each of them whether their animated counterparts captured their likeness.

Nathan Fillion: “The eyes are dead on.”

Lea DeLaria: “Miss Fritter, if she were here, I would say she captures my essence. Completely.”

Isiah Whitlock Jr.: “I had no input. And because of that, everybody says, ‘Oh, it looks like you,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I didn’t design that’ but it’s loveable.”

Larry the Cable Guy: “I had no input. My teeth looked just like Mater’s until Pixar made me enough money to get veneers. This was the original inspiration.”

Cars 3 is in theaters now, and if the infectious energy of Nathan Fillion, Larry the Cable Guy, Lea DeLaria, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. is any indication, you are in for one emotional, hilarious, and beautiful ride.