One of the few remaining actors from the golden age of Hollywood, Paul Newman still proves that he commands as much respect and awe as he did during "The Sting" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." He walks into a room of reporters at the Lowes Speedway in North Carolina and immediately, the presence of a legend is felt as he begins answering questions from the press.

The 81-year-old actor, a known avid NASCAR and racing fan, lends his voice to Disney/Pixar's "Cars" opening in theaters this Friday. Newman voices the character of Doc Hudson, a former great racing champ that has retired to the small, remote town of Radiator Springs. The town gets a new spark when an arrogant rookie named Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) happens upon their once-bustling community. It is through the citizens of Radiator Springs does Lightning learn the joys of what life has to offer.

These days, Paul Newman is a man of a few words (as you will read in this interview) but he still graces his fans with the same silver smile we've come to know him for.

Q: Did you get a chance to work with Owen Wilson in person?

PAUL: We worked together. I think I did four or five sessions with the microphone and Owen was in one of those, so we worked together for a half a day.

Q: What did you think of him?

PAUL: Very spontaneous, loose, inventive.

Q: What were the difficulties of doing the voice work for an animated film?

PAUL: I found it very vivid and invigorating because you can have a line and you can say that it’s wrong and you can just jump on it and do it 60 different ways very back-to-back and you certain can’t do it with film. You have to wait till the take is over you gotta to get the lights going and 15 minutes passes before you get another crack at it. This way is wonderful, because you can just keep improvising and improving on it or making it completely different or change words. You just have a lot more freedom.

Q: As a method actor, how did you prepare to play a car?

PAUL: The nice thing about animation, you only really act with half yourself. All of the physical stuff that you work on as an actor, you just throw away. So this was, I would say, relatively easy.

Q: Did you get a chance to work with Owen Wilson in person?

PAUL: We worked together. I think I did four or five sessions with the microphone and Owen was in one of those, so we worked together for a half a day.

Q: How was he?

PAUL: Very spontaneous, loose, inventive.

Q: Was it cool to be able to put acting and racing together for a film?

PAUL: Well, I did it mostly because I knew it would be good. Because Lasseter was working on it and Pixar. That would be the first consideration reason. That it was about racing was just a bonus.

Q: Had you not made "Winning," would you have this passion for cars?

PAUL: I don't think so, no. It was just good fortune that we started that project when we did. And I took to it very slowly. I just kind of worked my way up. But it happened at exactly the right time. [Given water] I haven’t had water since 1951

Q: Why has NASCAR become so popular in the last 10 years or so?

PAUL: Well, it became popular because it’s a hell of a sport. And I think people can identify very quickly with the cars. It certainly was in the ascendancy in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This schism between a champ car, and the IRL made it a lot easier but they’ve got a very good product and I think we do it well.

Q: In your vast career, have you made films but didn't enjoy the process, or films where you enjoyed the process but the final product wasn't what you thought would turn out?

PAUL: Well, there are so many ingredients that go into the making of a film. That’s one of the reasons why I like racing. It’s a very simple sense of winning. It’s down to a thousandth of a second now and electronically and that’s a very uncomplicated conclusion.

There’s so many things that go into making a film. The director, the actors that you're working with, the time that you have to rehearse, whether you catch up with a character in time. It’s pretty hard to tell which performer performed the best. Somebody may have started out with a piece of junk and brought it up past mediocrity until it was pretty damn good, and another guy starts off with a beautiful script and deliciously defined character and marvelous director, comfortable schedule and he’s got everything going for him. I would give the credit to the guy in front of him.

Q: In this movie, you have a young hot-shot car who becomes lost in the celebrity, the glamour and the glitz. Do you find that in today’s young Hollywood actors and how does that compare with actors during your days?

PAUL: (Laughs) It’s a really complicated question. There's a whole different way movies are made, different kinds of pressures, different audience, a completely different audience. There are just too many components to answer that question fairly.

Q: When you’re presented with a script what does it take to get you out of the house to go to work?

PAUL: Well, I don't think I can play a marathoner right now. I think it would have to be either a wonderful character in a wonderful film or a character that was acceptable in a film with some social content.

Q: You were quoted saying that you will do one more film and then quit acting. Is this your last film?

PAUL: Well, I don’t seem to be living up to my timetable. (Laughs) I may have one more movie in me. I’m not sure what it’s going to be now. Redford and I are working on something but it’s not by any means a slam dunk. We’re working on the script right very hard.

Q: Could you elaborate a bit on what your working on with Robert Redford and what the problems are you are having with it?

PAUL: No. (Laughs)

Q: Comedy, drama?

PAUL: Little of each.

"Cars" opens in theaters June 9th.