There goes those rumors since the early 90’s that Johnny Depp was going to play Speed Racer…this one goes to The Vault Keeper:
from darkhorizons.com:
Emile Hirsch Is The “Speed Racer”
By Garth FranklinWednesday March 21st 2007 12:42am
imageEmile Hirsch (“Alpha dog,” “The Girl Next Door”) is in talks to star in “Speed Racer,” the live-action version of the anime cartoon being directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski says The Hollywood Reporter.Based on the classic 1960s series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida that was retooled for North American audiences, “Speed Racer” follows the adventures of young race car driver Speed (Hirsch) in his quest for glory in his thundering gadget-laden vehicle, Mach 5.
The movie will feature other characters from the show, including Speed’s family and his mysterious arch-rival, Racer X who has a mysterious connection to Speed.
Joel Silver is producing the film, which the Wachowskis are writing as well as directing. The plan is for the Wachowskis to shoot in Germany this summer for a May 9th 2008 release worldwide.
I still do not have any desire to see this movie. I don’t get the appeal of Speed Racer. I don’t care. I just think its interesting to see how much time and effort they are wasting on this movie…when they could be funding one of mine!
–Socram
All the fun of Speed Racer is the animation…and they’re taking that out! C’mon.
and I still don’t want to see it…
Speed Racer is the reason people make fun of Anime…it doesn’t even look like they tried to match up the voices with the mouths.
But, it’s fun in an almost campy sort of way.
Speed Racer is so heavily parodied…for example, every episode ends with Speed Racer overcoming some amount of odds, and the whole gang is sitting there, having a “whew” moment. And then there’s some rumbling in the trunk of Speed’s car, and they get scared…and open the trunk to find the pet monkey.
Actually, now that I reread that, it sounds stranger if you don’t know the show. Speed? Yes, that’s his name. Pet monkey? Absolutely.
they better not make this a campy movie…then i wouldn’t even bother looking at the trailer.