{alltv} Mortimer goes from Cars to HBO

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For someone who says she can't keep a secret, Emily Mortimer is being awfully tight-lipped.

Then again, a restaurant off Hollywood Boulevard isn't the ideal venue for an interrogation. It's not like you can order a waterboarding between the chilled gazpacho soup and the mahi fish tacos.

Earlier in the day, you see, she'd told journalists she would make a terrible spy - a reference to Holley Shiftwell, the British secret agent she voices in Cars 2. When asked why, she said it was because she's not the most reticent of people.

But now a few hours later, she's doing a fine job of guarding the details of another buzzed-about project, HBO's More As This Story Develops.

"I better find out (how much I can say). I can tell you vaguely that it's in a newsroom," she says, then pauses.

"Well, how much do you know about it?"

The basics, I say: it's created by Aaron Sorkin - who won an Oscar for writing The Social Network and was the giant brain behind The West Wing - and will explore a fictional cable news network. Jeff Daniels will star as the anchor (a la Keith Olbermann). Presumably, it'll do for MSNBC or Fox News what Sorkin did for Facebook and the White House.

Mortimer confirms she'll play Daniels' producer.

"It's about in some ways their relationship, but also the news and what it is. In a world that's constantly trying to simplify and dumb down everything, these people are trying in some way to mount a campaign against that - or my character is. She's a truth-seeker who's also a stranger to the truth in her own life."

The gig marks a departure for the 39-year-old British actress, who has a thriving film career. Her credits range from Scream 3 to Match Point to The Pink Panther to Lars and the Real Girl. Later this summer, she will appear in Our Idiot Brother opposite Paul Rudd; then in November, she co-stars in Martin Scorsese's Hugo Cabret.

But increasingly, as many actors are learning, the challenging roles have gravitated to the small screen.

"It feels more like theatre in that way now," she says of television. "Because it used to be the writing wasn't so good. But now the writing is so brilliant that you get the kind of roles you could only get otherwise by doing plays - unless you're the lead part in a big movie and that's rare "¦

"I campaigned for it, but it was one of those things where it didn't feel likely that I would get it "¦ so I wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of getting it. Then you get it and it's like, 'Oh my God.'

"It feels very exciting on one hand. But on the other hand it feels very weird that possibly the next five years I'll be doing the same part."

And of course, it's doubtful it - or anything else - will impress her kids as much as Cars 2.

Mortimer and her husband, actor Alessandro Nivola, have two children: Samuel, 7, and May Rose, 1.

"The 7-year-old is right in the demographic sweet spot, as they say, for this film "¦ He's grown up watching those movies. They're so brilliant "¦ The acting, the storytelling, the attention to detail is so much better than most live-action movies."

Watching the sequel with him, she remembers, "Sam turns to me and says, 'Mom, you're amazing.' I felt amazing. For a second, I was cool."

Toy Story short gives Cars 2 extra shine

The highlight of Cars 2 happens before the movie's even started.

That's because in front of it, there's the short film, Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation, in which Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the gang attempt to salvage Ken and Barbie's tropical holiday.

"At Pixar, we love short films," says Pixar guru John Lasseter. "We had so much fun making Mater's Tall Tales between the Cars movies, we thought (it would be great to make a short) with the Toy Story characters.

"We just love these guys. We've come up with these really funny stories that just aren't meant to be features."

A second Toy Story short will reportedly follow later this year.

"For us it's an opportunity to let young artists at the studio who have been with us a long time to step up in their careers and direct," Lasseter says. "The short films are a really positive thing, and I think for audiences too. They can see new animation of characters they love so much."