Emily Mortimer on Cars 2, and Why John Lasseter Should Rule the World

Along with the likes of Sir Michael Caine and Eddie Izzard, actress Emily Mortimer gives voice to one of the new additions to the Cars universe across the pond: British intelligence agent Holley Shiftwell, a smart and confident paper-pushing analyst who gets thrust into the field (and into the life and heart of Radiator Springs tow truck Mater) in John Lasseter's globe-trotting Cars 2. For Mortimer, a self-avowed Pixar nut, it was an offer she couldn't refuse. And she's definitely now drinking the Pixar Kool-Aid.

"I felt in love with the whole ethos of Pixar," Mortimer told Movieline via phone. "I've become completely taken over, I'm completely obsessed. I think the whole world should be run by, basically, John Lasseter."

Read on for more with Mortimer as she talks Cars 2, joining the Pixar fold, impressing her seven-year-old son, and her upcoming Greg Mottola-directed, Aaron Sorkin-scripted HBO pilot More As This Story Develops.

Your character, Holley Shiftwell, is one of the great new additions to the franchise. How were you first approached to voice a role in Cars 2?

I just got rung up and was told I'd been offered the part, and of course I said yes without being told what it was. My son had just been brought up entirely on Pixar films -- he's seven -- and this had just come at the most perfect moment for him, because he's absolutely in the demographic sweet spot for this movie. But I didn't know what it was that I'd been offered; I just knew that I had to do it.

Aha! So your love for Pixar sealed the deal.

It's a wee embarrassing that my son's first word was "Nemo." It's not a very good testament to our parenting skills that we sat him in front of Finding Nemo so many times, partly because we wanted to watch it because it was so brilliant. And so I just said yes, of course, and I didn't get the impression that it was a very big part -- and I don't think it was, speaking to John [Lasseter] now since. I think it's something they developed more of once we started recording it, and it became clear that there was more potential in the relationship between her and Mater. I thought it was just a day or two and I'd be in and out and that would be great, and it ended up being about a year and eight or nine sessions. But I felt in love with the whole ethos of Pixar. I've become completely taken over, I'm completely obsessed. I think the whole world should be run by, basically, John Lasseter.

That's a consistent observation made about Pixar and their filmmaking process, that it's all very collaborative.

Yes, incredibly collaborative and they make you feel like you're a part of an organic process of working out how to make the movie be its best. And they're just so relentlessly passionate about what it is they do, and telling the best story possible in the best way possible, which is all too readily overlooked as the most important part of making movies. That's what they prize. Then the incredible attention to detail and obsessive detail-oriented stuff, that's what makes it so magical, I think. But also they look after everybody so well and they make you feel like a part of it; going there is like heaven, you don't want to leave. It's so light and airy and nice, such a nice vibe. You get sushi and white wine, and you just think, this is heaven!

Did you take your son to Pixar headquarters for the full experience while working on Cars 2?

I did, and that was an incredible day. Then we saw the movie together there. At one point in the movie, I sprout wings, and he turned to me and said, "Mom, you're amazing!" I was so psyched. He's never been quite so impressed by me, nor ever will again. [Laughs] He doesn't have much respect for me normally -- I mean, he thinks I'm great, but it's not like he thinks I'm very cool. But for a second, he really, really thought I was so cool. It's just come at the perfect moment for him to get the biggest kick out of it, which is lucky.

You mentioned spending a year working on Cars 2, in and out of sessions. During that time did you get to work with your cast mates, or was it like most animated films, little contact between cast members like ships in the night?

No! Larry and I -- not Larry, his real name is Dan -- we've become friends on the whole junket publicity tour of the movie, and I think he's fantastic. He's very funny and charming in a similar way to the character that he plays. So he and I get a kick out of each other, but we didn't meet on the thing at all. And I'm so glad that Sir Michael and I had done a film together already. We did Harry Brown together, so I had already had the experience of acting in a movie with him and actually being with him on a set. Otherwise I would have felt pissed off, I think, going for a whole movie without meeting the guy. You know, you finally get cast in a movie with Michael Caine and you never actually get to look at him! I would have felt a little bit gypped.

It is odd how that works out with many animated films. In your case with Cars 2, Holley Shiftwell shares pretty much all of her scenes with Michael Caine and Larry the Cable Guy's characters and they develop different relationships. So you have to trust the director that the chemistry will be there.

And for that reason you have to really put yourself in the hands of John Lasseter and trust him with every inch of your being. He's key as the person orchestrating the whole thing, and you don't know exactly what the relationship is going to be. So it's just trust; it's saying the line ten different ways and him getting a sense of what he's looking for, probably once you said it rather than knowing it before you say it. And you trust that he's the genius that he is, and that he's going to put it together in a way that feels genuine and right and real. But part of it, I think, was made easier by the fact that he's so invested in this himself and he cares and he so loves the world of this film. Particularly with the character of Mater, I felt like he was channeling Mater at times. I think he has a real empathy for that character. He's a wonderful guy but sometimes I think he feels a bit akin to him. The sort of larger than life character that's totally unafraid to be himself, like Mater is, and then at times like a fish out of water in the room with sophisticated people. He got inspiration from this film, he said, from going on press tours around the world and having that feeling -- in Paris, in Tokyo, Rome. When he was performing that character he was just enjoying and savoring it so much.

You're also appearing later this year in Martin Scorsese's Hugo Cabret. How did that opportunity come along? Did Scorsese just call you up out of the blue?

It just happened that he asked, and I of course said yes! It was as wonderful the second time as it was the first, and I feel so privileged to be in his movies twice in my life. I think it's so exciting, such a testament to him as a filmmaker that he's using this genre, this 3-D thing, when a lot of filmmakers are kind of snobbish about it. Instead of seeing it as an opportunity to break new ground, they see it as just this sort of gimmicky thing. He's so obsessed with the history of film and what you can do with film and the different places it's taken cinema. It was just an opportunity not to be missed. I love that about him -- even into his 70s he's breaking new ground and taking risks.

You've got a number of projects coming up that seem just really well-chosen. Have your methods of selecting roles changed over the years? Or does it seem to work out that folks keep calling you up with offers you can't refuse?

I don't know, I guess you find that you fight for the things harder that you really think are interesting and care about. In some ways it's not coincidental, especially with the HBO thing [the Aaron Sorkin-scripted cable news drama More As This Story Develops] -- it was just a fantastic script and an incredible script, and I couldn't not go for it. I fought quite hard to catch it, actually not expecting at all that I would. I thought I probably wouldn't get it. I really went for it, and then of course I got it which is a whole different thing, dealing with the consequences of a big change, in a way. But it's all very exciting and I'm thrilled about it.

Cars 2 is in theaters Friday.