Larry the Cable Guy revs up role for 'Cars 2'

By Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

After the success of Pixar's Cars in 2006, Larry the Cable Guy started to notice a strange phenomenon during his shopping rounds at Walmart. The comedian couldn't find toy versions of Mater, the goofy tow-truck character he voiced in the film.

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  Disney/Pixar

  "Modern-day Goofy character": Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) in 'Cars 2,' which follows him around the globe as he is mistaken for a secret agent.

Disney/Pixar

"Modern-day Goofy character": Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) in 'Cars 2,' which follows him around the globe as he is mistaken for a secret agent.

"He was the only one I couldn't find," Larry says. "It was really tough. Right then it was clear: This Mater was pretty popular."

Someone at Pixar had better order more Mater toys, pronto: The character was so beloved by Cars director and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter that he built much of the animated sequel around him.

When Cars 2 opens in theaters Friday, the international spy caper will center on the movie's most unlikely leading vehicle ? the rust-covered, buck-toothed tow truck.

"Daniel Craig should be very afraid," says Larry, laughing about the new threat to James Bond. "Not only is Mater coming, but so is Larry the Cable Guy."

Larry is the first to concede that he was taken aback when he discovered the enhanced role during the film's storyboarding . In the movie, the hapless Mater is mistaken for a cunning secret agent while on the race circuit with his best friend, Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson).

"I was thinking, 'Wow, this is really cool. Mater is the hero,'" says Larry, the alter ego of former pig farmer and Nebraska native Dan Whitney, 48. The Blue Collar comedian also has begun production for the second season of the History Channel series Only in America.

Lasseter explains that "Mater was just this unbelievable breakout character" from the original film who then starred in a series of Disney Channel shorts, Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales, before kicking into the next gear for Cars 2.

"He's grown into this modern-day Goofy character," Lasseter says. "He's just downright funny."

Larry says he has the perfect credentials for playing a character making naive blunders in exotic international locales.

"I could actually put myself in these situations," he jokes. "I've only been to maybe three different foreign countries, Canada, Mexico City ? Miami and Detroit."

Larry recalls one scene from the movie that hit close to home: when Mater heads into the women's bathroom in Japan.

"In Mexico, I went into the chica bathroom, not the chico," he says, laughing. "I was sitting in the stall, and I heard some chicas talking. I knew, man, this isn't good."

Maybe James Bond shouldn't be threatened after all.

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