Bi (RAIN) - Press Conference for Hollywood Movie SPEED RACER

Go go rain!

Speed Racer Trailer - finally!

Im just waiting for someone to analyze this frame by frame for religious references. Hehehe!

Emile's OTHER movie "into the wild"

Emile Hirsch's wild ride in Into The Wild By Vicky Roach

THREE years can be a long time in show business. Just ask Emile Hirsch. In that period, the 22-year-old actor has travelled from Venice Beach (Lords Of Dogtown), to the farthest outreaches of the Wachowski brothers' imaginations (Speed Racer), via an extended stint in the Alaskan wilderness (Into The Wild).

In career terms, the distance he has covered is even greater - from fresh-faced teenager to serious Oscar contender.

This might explain why Hirsch, who spent several months on the Gold Coast as a 12-year-old filming the TV creature feature Gargantua, appears to be channelling Into The Wild director Sean Penn over the phone from Los Angeles.

Interviewing Penn is supposed to be a bit like pulling teeth.

Hirsch probably doesn't even have his third molars yet, but he's certainly giving his mentor a run for his money. In terms of acting chops as well as monosyllables.

For the role of Christopher McCandless, a college graduate who donated all his savings to charity before heading into the great unknown in search of adventure, Hirsch has summoned the burning intensity of a bona fide risk-taker.

On screen, he has enough charisma to carry a whole cinema audience along for the ride. But over the phone line, Hirsch is strangely flat. Not impolite, exactly, but not particularly forthcoming either.
One subject he is particularly loathe to discuss is weight loss - Hirsch shed a quarter of his body weight (approximately 15kg) during filming. Towards the end of his Alaskan adventure, McCandless, out of supplies, and sick from bad berries, was little more than a skeleton.

While Hirsch says it was "definitely disturbing" to see his gaunt face in the mirror each morning, he then adds: "I don't want to talk about that too much. I feel like it takes away from certain other elements of the role. I've seen it happen with other actors in other movies, and I just don't want that to happen to me."

Unlike Matt Damon, who is still taking medication to correct the stress he inflicted on his adrenal gland by losing weight too quickly for his role in 1996's Courage Under Fire, Hirsch reckons he has never been healthier.

"I think it was pretty good for me.

I wasn't in good shape when I got the part," Hirsch says. "When I gained the weight back, I was still working out, so my body got a lot stronger."

During the "starvation" period, Hirsch says he had very little energy, and that it took a lot of willpower to work out when he was tired. This obviously gave Hirsch, who says he has little in common with McCandless, some insight into the driven nature of the man he plays.

Penn, who bought the rights to Jon Krakauer's book almost a decade ago, is probably a much closer fit to his complex, uncompromising protagonist. The director worked his leading man pretty hard during the eight-month shoot, which followed McCandless's footsteps from the wheat fields of South Dakota to the white-water rapids of the Colorado River and the remote Alaskan wilderness.

Hirsch, who is in almost every scene, did all the stunts himself - at Penn's behest - and had to lug a 13kg pack on his back similar to the one his character owned.

"I loved being that physical. I was always walking or running or climbing or doing something. I was constantly in motion," he says. "I'm not a huge believer in giant moments of change or catharsis, but it certainly made me a lot stronger in terms of what I'm able to go through."

Hirsch might be cut from a different cloth to the man he plays, but he has huge respect for him.

"I tried to learn as much as I could about him before we even started shooting, by talking to friends and family, studying his journals, photographs, videos. All of that was really helpful. It was like being a detective, trying to piece together the clues that were left behind for me.

"I felt a big responsibility to his family. Chris was so uncompromising in his pursuit of honesty, those were the qualities that seemed to be the most necessary for the portrayal."

Hirsch says his next film, Speed Racer, the Wachowski brothers' version of the 1960s Japanese animated series, was a welcome change of pace.

"The entire movie was shot on green screen. There wasn't one scene outdoors.

I went from one extreme to another, which was fun. I certainly couldn't have done another outdoors film right away."

" source: news.com

The Nintendo Wii Game Deal with Speedracer

A Kiwi company is elbow deep in the global gaming industry, but as Breakfast Business found out it is not all fun and games.

Sidhe Interactive are making multi-million dollar games for Playstation, X-Box, PSP, Nintendo Wii and pc's.

They are responsible for games such as Stacey Jones Rugby League, GripShift and the game based on MTV's mega-hit show Jackass.

"Kids playing in Kansas or the midwest of America they won't have any idea that the game was made in Wellington," Jos Ruffell of Sidhe's Business Development department says about Jackass.

This year Sidhe signed their biggest deal yet with Warner Brothers to create a game for the Nintendo Wii console based on the popular cartoon Speed Racer.

The contract coincides with the release in May, of the Speed Racer movie - directed by the Wachowski brothers of The Matrix fame.

Although details and pictures are top secret the deal is worth millions

The Sidhe team says success has come from New Zealand's reputation and talent for creative film and animation

Since they started 10 years ago the business has grown nearly ten-fold - staff numbers alone have increased from six to 80.

Making games isn't cheap business. Some games have budgets in the tens of millions, require hundreds of people and take many years to create.

Film studios, like Warners, are making big investments in the games industry.

Disney has recently announced it will increase annual spending on gaming by $300 million, with Warner Brothers adding an additional $500 million.

Gaming boundaries are being blurred, more non-traditional audiences are downloading and with the new demand, creativity is being pushed.

That means big opportunities for Sidhe.

"Games are becoming a more accepted part of different cultures and its not quite the valueless throw-away experience that it's been associated with in the past," says Sidhe founder and MD Mario Wynands.

N.B. In case you were wondering where the name Sidhe comes from... Pronounced "she" it is a mound or hill that is home to fairies and magical creatures, or in some case refers to the fairies themselves.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1320238/1458717

Susan Sarandon describes SpeedRacer's new LOOK

Susan Sarandon tells us about the over the top acting she does in Disney's Enchanted, playing an animated character come to life. She's sort of going to do that in Speed Racer too, but she's playing this one straight.

Speed Racer Looks Like What?
"Speed Racer is not broad," said Sarandon. "I mean it is broad in its concept and in its technology but we completely just have a monkey in our family, a chimp in our family. They want everybody to play it very straight. But around us, the house, the way it looks, the costumes and everything are definitely a style. It is very visual, it is very layered film, all this things I can't even begin to tell you about. But we play very straight."

Now that the film is in post-production, Sarandon has seen some of the completed footage. "It kind of looks like The Jetsons. I mean, it is not my best look. It takes a little getting used to. I have the same the same hairdo I had in my eighth grade yearbook. But is beautiful. It is very saturated color. It unfolds in a way that breaks all boundaries of structure. I can't explain it. Before I left Berlin I saw 10 or 15 minutes."

Speed Racer opens this summer.

http://www.canmag.com/nw/9649-speed-racer-susan-sarandon

Speedracer image leaked!

Speed Racer Image Leaked Online
By Rafe Telsch: 2007-11-15 18:53:27

Wow. I can’t believe I got excited when I heard some image from Speed Racer had leaked online. “Cast in costume,” they said. “Exciting,” they said. “Humbug,” say I.

The picture making the rounds online isn’t some action shot of Speedy (Emile Hirsch) and Racer X (Matthew Fox) facing off. It’s not a cool image of the cast together. Hell, it’s not even a candid image of the cast. Instead we get John Goodman with a mustache in a blue shirt with his stunt double (picture at right). Yee-haw.

Don’t get me wrong â€" I like John Goodman and from what I’ve seen he’s perfectly cast as Pops, father of Speed Racer. It’s just not much of a leak. It’s actually not much of a picture either. We need someone else to accuse the Wachowskis of beating up monkeys to heat things up around this picture, because this kind of thing is barely newsworthy.

The picture came to our attention via JoBlo, who found the image on Cinematirx, some sort of Hungarian movie blog.

Its all green screen - there are not sets- not even cars - Emile Hirsch, star of Speed Racer

Emile Hirsch Talks Speed Racer
It's going to be all green screen

Maybe we were left out of a memo somewhere, but until we spoke to Emile Hirsch recently we were under the impression that Speed Racer, the Wachowski brothers' adaptation of the cult cartoon about a boy who wants to be the best racing driver in the world, was going to using green screen elements for its reportedly groundbreaking racing sequences, but using old fashioned sets and props for much of the rest of movie. We'd heard rumours that much of it would be filled in later (John Mathieson, who was Director of Photography on Gladiator, apparently turned down the chance to shoot this because of the glut of green), but no concrete confirmation that it was taking the full 300 approach.

"Nope, it's all green screen," Hirsch told us. "There were no sets, just us and the green background. I haven't seen anything of it finished yet, there was a lot of trust [in the Wachowskis] involved. It's going to be crazy. Was the monkey real? Yes."

So, what does this mean for the look of Speed Racer? Are the brothers going to try to stylize this to look just like the cartoon â€" though presumably without the characters mouths continuing to move after they've finished speaking?

Cast Rumors : So Far

Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer. Hirsch was chosen over Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shia LaBeouf.[2] To prepare for the role, Hirsch watched every Speed Racer episode and visited Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he met with driver Jimmie Johnson.[3]

John Goodman as Pops Racer, Speed's father.[4]

Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer, Speed's mother.[4]

Christina Ricci as Trixie, Speed's girlfriend. Ricci was chosen over Elisha
Cuthbert and Kate Mara.[2]

Scott Porter as Rex Racer, Speed's older brother.[5]

Matthew Fox as Racer X, Speed's rival.[4]

Nayo Wallace as Minx, Racer X's girlfriend.[6]

Hiroyuki Sanada as Mr. Musha, a businessman.[4]

Rain as Taejo Togokhan,[4] a rookie racer. Rain is a South Korean pop singer who is making his first appearance in a Hollywood film with Speed Racer.[7]

Yu Nan as the sister of Taejo Togokhan.[8]

Richard Roundtree as Ben Burns, a commentator who was formerly a racer.[9]

Benno Fürmann as Inspector Detector.[4]

Roger Allam as Royalton, the corrupt owner of Royalton Industries.[1]

Kick Gurry as Sparky, Speed's mechanic.[4]

Paulie Litt as Spritle, Speed's younger brother.[4]

A chimpanzee as Chim Chim, Spritle's pet.[10] In July 2007, PETA contacted Speed Racer producer Joel Silver about reports that the chimpanzee had been beaten and had also bitten one of the actors and encouraged production to switch to animatronics. A studio spokesperson confirmed that an actor had been bitten, but the actor was treated and the chimpanzee was given a rest. The studio denied to PETA that the chimpanzee had been mistreated, saying that the decision would remain to use live animals in production.[11]

Melvil Poupaud as a race commentator.[12]

Christian Oliver in an unnamed role.[13]

Milka Duno as Gearbox.[14]

Joel Silver on Speed Racer: Not Much

Here are super NO Giveaway Comments of Joel Silver on how the Brothers Wachowskis are transforming the show's races - w/c is bound to be the new spectacle of Bullet Time- The Speed Racer Races.

"What [the Wachowskis] are doing on Speed Racer is truly remarkable," Silver said. "They have seen the movie in a way that only they can that you never picked up before."

"We have a fantastic cast," Silver said. "Emile Hirsch is Speed and Christina Ricci is Trixie. It's really a great group and a great story - very colorful, and the races are just unbelievable."

Silver also talked about how the Wachowski brothers love the original animated show.

"They loved the original animated series," he said. "It was the first time they saw Japanese animation so it was important to them, and they wanted to capture what it was but take it to a whole new world."

LOST star are found in SPEED RACER! _ "Girl Next Door" Guy is in it too!

SPEED RACER NOW STARRING...

Emile Hirsch
who starred opposite Elisha Cuthbert in "Girls Next Door" and the lead "DOCTOR" Matthew Fox of LOST will be the two Brothers in SPEED RACER.

But let me think, would the be the brothers? Or would Matthew be the Villain? He does look like it:


The Wachowskis could not have gotten a better replacement for Keanu!

Go Doctor!

Mach Go Go Go japanese intro

Original Intro Sequence for the Japanese Show.

I can see now where Andy Wachowski took the Matrix Reloaded Road Chase with Trinity on a Bike and Neo on Top of a Truck - on a highway with concrete borders. Cool.

Speed Racer - Christina Ricci Interview

Ricci is Trixie for Speed Racer. Don't wait for the special on the movie on TV - watch the interview of Christina Ricci today. Now Yes. On YouTube!

Hmm. If the future is flat-screen, then the "tube" will now represent something else. How about the "series of tubes!" Hahaha.

Sorry for that aside. Enjoy this generalization interview of Tina for Speed Racer. Woah.

VW speed racer commercial

Larry and Andy Wachowski, the sibling duo behind the Matrix films, are pushing forward with plans to make a live-action feature based on the classic 1960s anime series Speed Racer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Talk of such a project has been circulating through Tinsel Town for more than a decade but now it appears it may actually happen with the Wachowskis officially attached to write and direct and their long-time collaborator Joel Silver committed to producing.

Having served as producers on V for Vendetta, the Wachowskis will return to the directors chair for the first time since wrapping the Matrix trilogy in 2003. Among the Matrix alumni coming along for the ride are Oscar-winning vfx supervisor John Gaeta and exec producer Grant Hill.

Like Tatsuo Yoshida’s beloved cartoon creation, the live-action Speed Racer will focus on a young man’s efforts to drive his high-tech Mach 5 to victory over the mysterious Racer X. Considering the cartoon has been popular for generations and is still watched by kids, the film adaptation will reportedly be more family-friendly than the Wachowskis’ previous action flicks. Shooting is scheduled to begin in 2007.

If the project stays on track, Warner Bros., in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, will likely release Speed Racer in the summer of 2008.

Speed Racer TV Song LYRICS

Speed Racer TV Song by N. Koshibe (Original Air Dates: 1967 (syndicated))
(I can hear it now!)

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer - he’s a demon on wheels
He’s a demon and he’s gonna be chasin’ after someone.

He’s gainin’ on you so you better look alive.
He’s busy revvin’ up a powerful Mach 5.
And when the odds are against him
And there’s dangerous work to do

You bet your life Speed Racer will see it through.
Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, Go!

He’s off and flyin’ as he guns the car around the track
He’s jammin’ down the pedal like he’s never comin’ back
Adventure’s waitin’ just ahead.
Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer, Go!

Speed racer song: Here he comes! Here comes speed racer!

Soon this will be one of the world's most searched for cars! Its the Speedracer live-action vehicle from the creators of "The Matrix". This is the live-action movie adaptation of the Japanese Anime most of us love and know. Only now, with the Wachowski touch - it'll be running and crashing and flying in "bullet time"!

You'll see more of this in the next months.

Initial What?