Download the AUDIO PODCAST of the Berlin Press Conference for Speed Racer

Download the mp3 of the Speed Racer Press Conference which features most of the stars of the show.  If you're new, here's a synopsis of the new show:

From writer/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski, the creators of the groundbreaking “The Matrix” trilogy, and producer Joel Silver comes the live-action, high-octane family adventure “Speed Racer.”

Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer—whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill.

Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer (John Goodman), the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company’s maniacal owner (Roger Allam) but uncovers a terrible secret—some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won’t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line.

The only way for Speed to save his family’s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox)—to win the race that had taken his brother’s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.

Slated for release on May 9, 2008, “Speed Racer” marks the Wachowski brothers’ first writing/directing collaboration since “The Matrix” movies. Joel Silver, who previously worked with the Wachowskis on “The Matrix” movies and “V For Vendetta,” is producing the film under his Silver Pictures banner.

The film stars Emile Hirsch (“Alpha Dog”) as Speed, Christina Ricci (“Black Snake Moan”) as Trixie, Matthew Fox (TV’s “Lost”) as Racer X, and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”) and John Goodman (“Evan Almighty”) as Mom and Pops Racer. Rounding out the main cast are Australian actor Kick Gurry (“Spartan”) as Sparky; Paulie Litt (TV’s “Hope & Faith”) as Spritle; Roger Allam (“The Queen,” “V For Vendetta”) as Royalton; and Asian music star Ji Hoon Jung (popularly known as Rain), making his major feature film debut as a rival driver.

Based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, the live-action “Speed Racer” will showcase the kind of revolutionary visual effects and cutting-edge storytelling that have become the benchmarks of the Wachowski brothers’ films.

“Speed Racer” is a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, of a Silver Pictures Production.

New Speed Racer HD Trailer- New Scenes!

Marvelous Posters of Speed Racer!

The world's first HDR movie. Will you ever appreciate it? The crowds will let the WACHOWSKIS know on May 2008.

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