People_USA_June_26_2017

Scoop
ROBBY KLEIN/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES; INSETS, FROM TOP: DISNEY PIXAR; O’CONNOR/AFF
ARMIE HAMMER
ENJOYING L
IN THE FAST L
When Pixar called to
ask Armie Hammer
if he’d be interested in
lending his voice to
one of its upcoming
films, the 30-year-old
actor said yes—
without even knowing
which movie the
famed animation
studio had in mind.
“I was like, ‘Yep, I’m in.
I’ll do it no matter
what,’ ” says Hammer.
The film? Cars 3, in
which Hammer plays
rookie racer Jackson
Storm, an arrogant
challenger to
longtime favorite
Lightning McQueen
(Owen Wilson). “My
favorite thing about
this, besides having
done a Pixar film, is
the fact that I now get
to say I’m in a movie
with Paul Newman,”
says Hammer. The
filmmakers were able
to use extra audio
from the late actor’s
original work in Cars
to supplement
McQueen’s story line
in the third film.
Another perk? Sharing
it with his 2 1 ⁄ 2-year-old
daughter Harper, who
attended the film’s
Disneyland premiere
with her dad. “This
was her first time
sitting through a
movie with me,”
he says. “She was
my litmus test—if
a2 1 ⁄ 2-year-old can
watch it and be
In Cars 3, Hammer’s cocky
next-gen racer Jackson Storm
squares off against Lightning
McQueen (Owen Wilson).
completely
enthralled, anyone
can.” Hammer and
his wife, Elizabeth, 34,
are also parents to
five-month-old son
Ford. At home he’s
likely to be at the grill.
“I’m sort of the
master of the meat
in our household,
whether it’s steaks,
smoked barbecue,
fish,” says the L.A.
native. “I love to cook.
For me it’s just fun
to stand at the range
and make stuff.”
—KARA WARNER
E
E
‘THE BLESSINGS
ARE BOUNTIFUL
WHEN IT COMES
TO COOL TOYS
FOR YOUR KIDS’
—HAMMER,
ON THE PERKS
OF BEING IN
A PIXAR MOVIE
“I’m feeling
incredibly grateful,”
says Hammer (with
wife Elizabeth, daughter
Harper and son Ford at
the Cars 3 premiere on
June 10). “Right now
I’m lying low and
enjoying time with
my family.”
PEOPLE June 26, 2017
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