speed racer

Following earlier casting news regarding the addition of Emile Hirsch (Speed), Christina Ricci (Trixie), Matthew Fox (Racer X), John Goodman and Susan Sarandon to the Wachowski brother's Speed Racer movie comes news that Scott Porter of Friday Night Lights has joined the film as Rex, Speed's brother.

A picture of the Mach 5 was recently released, and as many fans have pointed out, it looks almost identical to Speed's car from the cartoon series. The Wachowski's themselves have said they intend to make the movie family-friendly, and with a "retro future" look and feel.

The movie comes out May 9, 2008. It is currently filming in Canada.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, Porter will play Rex, who eventually becomes Racer X (played by Matthew Fox).

I've been posting a lot about the upcoming Speed Racer movie, but so far it's mostly been casting news and not a lot of information on what the actual movie will look like.

Of course, we've been able to venture some guesses as to what we might expect, since the movie is being helmed by Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski.

Korean pop star Rain, the bane of Stephen Colbert's existence (see video below) is in negotiations to appear in the upcoming Speed Racer film from the Wachowski brothers, the duo behind the Matrix trilogy. Rain will join already-cast Matthew Fox (Lost), Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch, John Goodman and Susan Sarandon.

Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, appeared in the 2006 Korean film I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK (doesn't that sound like a Monty Python song)? He is not officially part of Speed Racer just yet. What's also not clear is how big his role will be.

The movie begins shooting this summer and is slated for release sometime next May.

Matthew Fox of Lost has joined the cast of the upcoming Speed Racer movie as Racer X.

FOX joins previously cast Christina Ricci (Trixie); Emile Hirsch (Speed); and John Goodman and Susan Sarandon (Speed's parents). The new movie will be helmed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), and will begin shooting this summer (while Lost is on break) for a May 2008 release.

I'll admit I don't pay as much attention to movie scuttlebutt as I do television, but based on the rumblings about this movie I've caught here and there, it sounds like it could be pretty cool: an amplified, effects-laden version of the '60s cartoon. I imagine that, not unlike the Matrix movies, it'll be something that needs to be seen on the bigscreen.

Much like the new Underdog movie, the Wachowski brothers' bigscreen adaptation of the popular Speed Racer cartoon will not be animated, but considering the Wachowskis were behind the Matrix trilogy, one assumes the new film will be both visually stunning and not especially "heavy" storywise. Of course, it's not as if the original cartoon was all that deep, either, so in many ways this is a good match. If they do it right, it could be the perfect no-brainer, popcorn matinee.

In an interview with Empire Online, producer Joel Silver said very little about the upcoming live-action Speed Racer movie from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), other than it's going to look really cool. Of course, he's producing the movie, so what else is he going to say, that it'll be a lot of flash and no substance? Silver also said they might not even use cars, which I would assume means they won't use any real cars, and do some kind of fancy CGI effects instead, which I think actually makes sense for this kind of movie.

Silver also had this to say in the interview, regarding the Wachowskis: "They said they'd never work again the Matrix sequels." If you can figure out what the hell that sentence is supposed to mean, you're a better person than I am. I'm trying to figure out why Joel Silver speaks like Yoda.

[via TV Filter]

Speed Racer only lasted one year? That's what IMDb seems to indicate. The Japanese import is so much a part of popular culture I assumed it had lasted longer than that. Regardless, the popular cartoon was around before my time, so I know very little about it, save for little bits of information I've picked up here and there. If you're older than myself, however, or you fell in love with the show while watching it in reruns, you may have already heard that a live-action film versions of the cartoon is in the works. Larry and Andy Wachowski, the brothers behind the Matrix movies, will write and direct the project, which is slated for a 2008 release. The brothers apparently have big plans for the racing sequences, and given the ever-duplicated special effects of the Matrix trilogy, I'm more than a little curious to see what they have up their sleeves. I'm a little bummed out that it's live-action rather than animation, but The Matrix was essentially a live-action cartoon in many ways, so maybe this could work.

[via Toon Zone]

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