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John Turturro Joins 'Cars 2' as Lightning McQueen's Racing Rival

by Ethan Anderton
February 9, 2011
Source: SlashFilm

Since many of us have forgotten about the dreadful live-action/stop-motion animated movie Monkeybone, you may not remember that John Turturro was the voice of the titular mischievous monkey. Thankfully, he's now putting his vocal talents to much better use as Disney has revealed via SlashFilm that the actor is voicing a pivotal character in this summer's Pixar sequel Cars 2. Though he's had plenty of experience with transforming cars, this time Turturro will be dealing with a slew of race cars as he'll be voicing Francesco Bernoulli, an Italian racecar who becomes Lightning McQueen's chief European rival. More video below!

Here's your first look at Francesco Bernoulli voiced by John Turturro in Cars 2:

Francesco grew up in the shadow of the famous Monza race course in Italy where he and his friends would sneak onto the track and race the famous Pista di Alta Velocita bank turn. He was an instant winner on the amateur circuit and soon became an international Formula Racer champion. The ladies love Francesco's open wheels, youngsters look up to his winning spirit and fellow racercars envy his speed. But Francesco's biggest fan is Francesco himself, as evidenced by his racing number. As the most famous race car in Europe, #1 Francesco is the favorite to win the World Grand Prix, which also makes him Lightning's chief rival.

Cars 2 sees Lightning and Mater traveling around the world for the Race of Champions that includes other disciplines like Formula One. Mater ends up in a 'Hitchcockian' case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent named Finn McMissile and becomes embroiled in a spy thriller, but no one believes him.

If you want to take a look at the plethora of other new characters who'll be showing up in Cars 2, you can head on over to the film's official Facebook page where they're all highlighted. In the meantime, make sure you check out the teaser trailer and first theatrical trailer and get excited for the film's June 24th release.

Filed under Casting, Movie News, Pixar

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