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Speed Racer
Directed by	Wachowski brothers
Produced by	Joel Silver Wachowski brothers Grant Hill
Written by	Wachowski brothers
Starring	Emile Hirsch Christina Ricci John Goodman Susan Sarandon Matthew Fox
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Cinematography	David Tattersall
Editing by	Roger Barton Zach Staenberg
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	May 9, 2008
Country	United States
Language	English
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Speed Racer is a 2008 family film that is a live action film adaptation of the 1960s Japanese animated series Speed Racer. The film is directed by the Wachowski brothers with Emile Hirsch as Speed and Christina Ricci as Speed's girlfriend, Trixie. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman portray Speed's parents.

Starting in 1992, Speed Racer was a project in development hell that changed directors, screenwriters, and actors through the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2006, the film entered production and began filming on greenscreen sets in Berlin during the summer of 2007. Speed Racer has a release date set for May 9, 2008.

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a young man who has natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer (Scott Porter). Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), with Pops responsible for designing Speed's vehicle, Mach 5. The owner of Royalton Industries (Roger Allam) makes Speed a lucrative offer, and Speed rejects it, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing some of the biggest races to gain profit. With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton seeks to ensure that Speed will not win any major races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), seeking to rescue his family's business and the sport itself.^[1]

• 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 and older brother in disguise.^[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]

In September 1992, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that it held the option to create a live action film adaptation of Speed Racer, in development at Silver Pictures.^[15] In October 1994, singer Henry Rollins was offered the role of Racer X in the film.^[16] In June 1995, actor Johnny Depp was cast into the lead role for Speed Racer, with production slated to begin the coming October,^[17] with filming to take place in California and Arizona.^[18] The following August, Depp requested time off to the studio for personal business, delaying production.^[19] However, due to a high budget,^[20] the same August, director Julien Temple, who was attached to direct Speed Racer, left the project. Depp, without a director, also departed from the project. The studio considered director Gus Van Sant as a replacement for Temple,^[21] though it would not grant writing privileges to Van Sant.^[22] In December 1997, the studio briefly hired director Alfonso Cuarón for Speed Racer.^[23] In the various incarnations of the project, screenwriters Marc Levin, Jennifer Flackett, J. J. Abrams, and Patrick Read Johnson had been hired to write scripts.^[24]

In September 2000, Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Lauren Shuler Donner hired writer-director Hype Williams to take the helm of Speed Racer.^[25] In October 2001, the studio hired screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring for $1.2 million split between them to write a script for the film.^[24] Eventually, without production going underway, the director and the writers left the project. In June 2004, actor Vince Vaughn spearheaded a revival of the project by presenting a take for the film that would develop the characters more strongly. Vaughn was cast as Racer X and was also attached to the project as an executive producer.^[20] With production never becoming active, Vaughn was eventually detached from the project.^[26]

The Mach 5 (shown on display at Comic-Con International), is designed to be driven, but it will be hung from a crane for the film's sequences and have its motoring effects be computer-generated.

In October 2006, directors Larry and Andy Wachowski were brought on board by the studio to write and direct Speed Racer. Producer Joel Silver, who had collaborated with the Wachowski brothers for V for Vendetta and The Matrix Trilogy, explained that the brothers were hoping to reach a broader audience with a film that was not R-rated. Visual effects designer John Gaeta, who won an Academy Award for Visual Effects for the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix, was hired to assist in making Speed Racer a live-action adaptation. Production was set to begin in summer 2007 in European locations for a summer 2008 release.^[27] In November 2006, the release date for Speed Racer was set for May 23, 2008.^[28] Producer Joel Silver described Speed Racer as a family film in line with the Wachowski brothers' goal to reach a wider audience.^[29]

In February 2007, the Wachowski brothers selected Babelsberg Studios in Germany to film Speed Racer.^[30] In the following March, Warner Bros. moved the release date of Speed Racer two weeks earlier to May 9, 2008.^[31] The studio received a grant of $12.3 million from Germany's new Federal Film Fund, the largest yet from the organization, for production of Speed Racer in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.^[32] Filming commenced on June 5, 2007 in Berlin,^[29] and was shot entirely against greenscreen.^[33] The Wachowski brothers filmed in high-definition video for the first time.^[34] The Mach 5, the vehicle driven by the protagonist Speed, will be an actual vehicle. Instead of being driven on pavement, it will be hung from a crane and have its effects be computer-generated. The film will also have a "retro future" look, according to Silver.^[10] The film wrapped by August 25, 2007.^[35] The Wachowskis purchased the rights to the sound effects and theme song from the television series for use in the film.^[36]

Mattel will produce toys based on the film through several divisions. Hot Wheels will produce die-cast vehicles, race sets, and track sets. Tyco will produce remote-controlled Mach 5s and racing sets. Radica Games will produce video games in which customers can use a car wheel. The products will become available in March 2008.^[37] Also, The LEGO Company will be producing 4 LEGO sets based on the movie.^[38]

Warner Bros. will also self-publish a video game based on Speed Racer to be released on the Nintendo DS, Wii and PlayStation 2. The game will be released on the Nintendo DS and Wii in May with the film's theatrical release, and the game will be released on the PS2 in the following fall to accompany the film's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray release. Due to a short development schedule, the studio chose not to develop games for the high-powered consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[39]

• Official site
• Official trailer
• Speed Racer at the Internet Movie Database
• Press conference video at Reuters