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Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett all racing against Herbie. They all felt an amazing affection for Herbie, and I think it was truly exciting for them to be a part of this movie.” When the script for HERBIE: FULLY LOADED crossed paths with rising director Angela Robinson, she also felt a spark. She was herself a Herbie fan since childhood, but even more than that, Robinson loved the screenplay’s empowering theme of a young woman pursuing her wildest dreams against the odds. “I thought the writers had found an amazing new angle to make Herbie very fresh for today’s audiences by creating this spirited young woman who wants to be a NASCAR driver, and who also becomes the only person who can help Herbie get back to the racetrack and fulfill his destiny,” she says. “The story had a great combination of big-action racing scenes that I loved, along with the humor that comes with Herbie, and then this uplifting story of a woman trying to prove herself in the vibrant, dynamic but usually male-dominated world of NASCAR. That great mix attracted me to the project.” The producers, in turn, were pleased by Robinson’s dynamically contemporary approach. “Angela has this really great pop sensibility and a very clever sense of humor—which is what the original Herbie had in spades—so we felt she was the right person to bring the story speeding into 2005,” says co-producer Lisa Stewart. From the beginning, the filmmakers especially wanted to make sure that this new film would combine a respect for Herbie’s past with innovative ideas for how to take the effervescent VW into a much more high-tech future. “Herbie is a character who has really become part of the fabric of the culture,” says executive producer Michael Fottrell. “We all still know about him—grandparents know about him, parents know about him and even kids today already know who he is. So it seemed time to bring this great iconic character into the new millennium.” Continues executive producer Charles Hirschhorn: “We ultimately designed 36 different versions of Herbie for the film, from Junkyard Herbie to Demolition Derby Herbie to Street Racer Herbie to NASCAR Herbie. We have Herbies in every shape, size and personality, but he has always had that same can-do, love-makes-the-world-go-round attitude that makes him such a lovable and enduring fairy-tale character.” Angela Robinson was especially devoted to keeping Herbie’s history alive while, at the same time, bringing him into the 21st century. “I went back through all the Herbie movies, television shows and web sites to make sure we got every detail right even as we were updating Herbie, because Herbie’s a character people feel like they know and I wanted to stay absolutely true to that,” she says. “From the beginning, I didn’t want to rely entirely just on computers to generate Herbie, because he’s a character that needs to be real. So we used actual ’60s-era VWs enhanced with lots of advanced robotics and digital aftereffects. In fact, Herbie became so real to us on the set that, at times, I was tempted to direct him just like an actor—I’d say, ‘Herbie, move left!’” Robinson even took a spin at the Richard Petty Driving Experience along with other members of the cast and crew to get a firsthand feel for having the extreme power of a racecar engine at her control. “That was amazing!” Robinson summarizes. “When you get a sense of the incredible speeds and the extreme curves of the tracks and just the energy of the car and all that goes into it, it really gave me an idea of exactly what I wanted to recreate on the screen. I wanted to let the audience in on exactly why Herbie and Maggie have such a blast out there!” Casting Herbie’s Human Race Team As a lowly little VW with Ferrari dreams, Herbie’s mission in life has always been to find a race-car driver who could work with him as a true friend, hand to wheel, as they zoomed their way to the very top. In HERBIE: FULLY LOADED, he finds that friend in a most unlikely person: a new college graduate who comes to the trash heap where Herbie has been discarded, hoping to find a sports car. As it turns out, Herbie is in luck, because that college graduate also happens to be Maggie Peyton, heir to a NASCAR legacy and a young woman thirsting for a chance to race...even in a rusty-but-wily ’60s VW that no one believes has a chance! Looking to find a young actress with the charisma, guts and comic panache to play Maggie Peyton, the filmmakers approached popular teen star Lindsay Lohan, their top choice. “I was incredibly excited to work with Lindsay because I had been blown away by her energy, timing and screen presence in her previous films,” states director Angela Robinson. “She perfectly embodied all the characteristics needed for Maggie. Lindsay has the sensitivity to draw you into the emotion of the family story, while also being tough enough that you can really believe her as a fearless racecar driver and fun enough to add comic sparkle to the film. It was a total pleasure to work with her.” Lindsay already knew about the legend of “Herbie the Love Bug” and was raring to go. “I had seen the original movie, and I loved that it’s the kind of story that gets passed down from one generation to the next,” she says. “There’s something about Herbie that is so magical and special, you really care about him as a kind of person, and it’s hard to even think about him as just a car! I also thought it would be really cool to do a movie that appeals to kids as well as to all those adults who grew up with Herbie. And to get to learn to race cars on top of all that was just too awesome to resist.” Lindsay especially related to Maggie Peyton’s indomitable spirit and attitude of trying to live life to the fullest. “She’s a great character—a tomboy with a kind of surfer vibe, who has fulfilled her need for speed doing all kinds of tricks on her skateboard,” explains Lohan. “Still, she has this feeling that she has the talent to be a great racer, even if her dad is too worried about her to let her go out on the track. Somewhere inside her she just knows she has to go after her dreams—and Herbie takes her there. He even learns a thing or two about skateboarding!” Though she found the entire production to be full of fun and good vibes, perhaps Lindsay’s absolute favorite part of HERBIE: FULLY LOADED was getting to slide behind the wheel and enter the thrilling world of NASCAR...as an insider. “It was just amazing,” she says. “We even got to go out to a NASCAR race in Fontana and race Herbie on the track! We were there with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and all the stars and the cheering fans, and they even announced my name as one of the drivers. It was so cool. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Maggie Peyton isn’t the only human being who gets wrapped up in Herbie’s adventurous dreams of auto racing. Among the other characters that come along for the ride are: Kevin—The Street-Savvy Mechanic Who Revs Herbie Back Up Maggie Peyton’s adventures with Herbie accelerate when they wind up at an out-of-the-way garage where Maggie meets up with Kevin, an old high-school friend who has transformed into an ace urban mechanic who can work modern miracles on vintage cars. It is Kevin who ultimately patches Herbie up and transforms him into a tricked-out, sassy street racer— winning both Maggie’s and Herbie’s affection along the way. To play Kevin, the filmmakers looked for someone who could fuel Maggie Peyton’s spirit with comedy. They found what they were looking for in Justin Long, a young comic star who was most recently seen with Ben Stiller in the hit “Dodgeball.” “Justin is a very talented actor and comedian who brings a lot of comic relief to the story,” says Angela Robinson. “He was a great match for Lindsay as Maggie Peyton’s love interest.” Long was thrilled to become Herbie’s wrench-wielding savior. “What’s not to love about Herbie? He possesses magical gifts, a big heart, and he’s always bringing people together and showing them the potential for friendship and romance,” Long notes. “And Kevin is the one person who really sees the potential under Herbie’s hood. I love that part of the story—it’s a great metaphor for seeing the beauty and magic inside an ugly duckling.” Justin had to hone his own mechanical savvy to get ready for the part. “In real life, I can barely pump my own gas, and here I was going to pit school!” He laughs. “But I learned a lot, and it was really fun getting to polish up Herbie and ‘pimp him out,’as the saying goes. We gave him spoilers and rims and shafts and shined him up until he looks like a whole different car. It’s pretty cool what a little elbow grease can accomplish—even on a 40-year-old VW!” He was also excited to work with Lindsay Lohan. “Lindsay’s really got spunk,” he says. “She’s sweet and lovable, and I think that really translates onto the screen. She’s just naturally the kind of person you want to root for. And when Kevin sees her in his shop with this magical old car, romance just blossoms.” Lindsay, meanwhile, also had a blast with Justin. “He’s just so hilarious, and really fun to work with,” she says. “The only problem was that we became so much like brother and sister that when it came time for Maggie and Kevin to flirt on screen, that was a little weird!” Ray Peyton,Jr.—Maggie’s Racing Brother,Also Known As “In The Way Ray” Maggie and Herbie have a more conflicted relationship with Maggie’s brother, hotheaded Ray Peyton, Jr., who’s supposed to be following in his father and grandfather’s larger-than-life tire treads as a NASCAR racer except for one small obstacle—he’s not a very good driver! Dubbed “In the Way Ray” by his fellow NASCAR drivers, Ray is just barely staying on the circuit, much to his father’s chagrin. To play out the humor and pathos of Ray Jr., the filmmakers cast popular comic actor Breckin Meyer. “Ray Jr. knows that his heart isn’t in racing, but he just can’t break it to his dad,” Breckin explains. “He just keeps going because he feels like it would kill his dad if he stops. After all, his dad sees him as the last of the Peyton drivers because he doesn’t think that Maggie should race. Even though she’s the one who has got the gift and Ray doesn’t, their dad doesn’t want his baby girl in danger. So that is Ray’s big dilemma in the movie—how do you tell your dad that you don’t want to carry on the family business?” Ironically, Breckin was attracted to the role of Ray precisely because he himself was dying for a chance to learn more about NASCAR driving. “I loved getting to go inside the NASCAR world because it is so completely different from anything I’ve done before,” he says. “Learning the lingo, meeting the champions, getting to take real race cars for a spin—it was an unimaginable, surreal experience. And the fun part is that the movie pits this little VW that could against the slickest drivers and the hottest, fastest cars in the world. It’s the ultimate story of the little guy taking on the giants!” For director Angela Robinson, Breckin Meyer’s mix of comic, dramatic and musical skills was the perfect match for the role. “I thought he brought an amazing amount of humanity to this character who is really sacrificing his own hopes and dreams for his dad’s love,” she says. “He had such a funny and realistic rapport with Lindsay and Justin.” continued next page
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