A live-action adaptation of Speed Racer, based on the classic 1960’s Japanese animated series created by anime legend Tatsuo Yoshida, is being made by the The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Trilogy, V for Vendetta). Over on USA Today, Scott Bowles gives a sneak preview of the film including some production stills.
The movie stars Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer, Christina Ricci as Trixie, Matthew Fox as Racer X, John Goodman as Pops Racer, Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer and while much of the film is CG, they used two live chimpanzees to play the role of Chim Chim. The film is scheduled for release on May 9th, 2008.
For more on the original series, check out official website and Wikipedia article.
UPDATE: The Speed Racer trailer is now online.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The car looks good – hard to tell what the movie will end up like. None of the actors picked would’ve really been my first call for the parts.
The burning question of course is will the sound effects for all of the whacky features of the car still be as cheesy as they were?
That, and will they purposefully mis-sync the audio and the video, for the true authentic feel of “Speed Racer?”
The Wachowski’s created new technology, once again, to make this movie. I am very much looking forward to their version of this classic cartoon.