‘Speed Racer’ Stars Insist Cartoon-Based Flick Is ‘Like Nothing You’ve Seen Before’
Emile Hirsch likens the Wachowski brothers’ direction to their groundbreaking work on ‘The Matrix.’

You’ve seen good movies. You’ve seen bad movies. But when was the last time you truly saw a movie unlike any you’d ever seen before?
“This film has all these visuals and elements to it that you’ve never seen before,” 23-year-old “Speed Racer” star Emile Hirsch promised when we caught up with him recently at the movie-theater industry convention ShoWest.

“That’s what the Wachowski brothers, when they were making that first ‘Matrix,’ [were doing]. No one had seen anything like it.”

It’s a bold claim: In the more than 100 years that “movies” have existed, hundreds of thousands of them have been made. Most fit into a handful of categories, and the majority rip each other off with glee (“It’s ‘Die Hard’ meets ‘Wedding Crashers’!”). But early trailers for the May 9 release have impressed, and the movie’s promises continue to grow, Speed Racer, grow.

“It’s going to be like nothing you’ve seen before -really,” echoed “Lost” star Matthew Fox, who plays the mysterious Racer X in the flick. “Larry and Andy [Wachowski] are huge fans of the material, so they’re going to pay homage to that and respect that in their version of ‘Speed Racer.’ But the world that they’re defining is so unique to itself.”

The diminutive indie princess is about to debut as a karate-chopping, chopper-navigating super heroine in the Wachowski Brothers’ virtual-reality film adaptation of TV’s “Speed Racer.” Will she be a demon on wheels? George Gurley plays Racer X to her many whys. Like, Why is this guy asking me these weird questions? Collision or collusion? You decide.

For the past 15 years, I’ve done my share of interviews with famous and beautiful actresses, approached many more of them, and it hasn’t always worked out. I have written in the past about my bad luck with female thespians, but the list of incidents just continues to grow. Sharon Stone once provided me with a juicy quote, quickly followed by a severe tongue-lashing. When I approached Parker Posey, she simply scowled and looked away. (Granted, I had asked her, “Are you Parker Posey?” I hear otherwise she is very nice.) After I tried chatting up Marisa Tomei, and she walked away, I was told she muttered, “Now I know why I hate journalists so much.” The hour I spent with Amanda Peet? So disastrous I don’t want to get into it. Too scarred. The enchanting Catherine Deneuve hyperbolized, “How dare you!” Midway through our half hour together, Charlotte Rampling stopped my inquiries to ask, “What kind of questions are these? What a boring interview this is. Why are you doing all these sort of… questions? ‘What do you like? What don’t you like? What do you shit on? What do you crap on?’” Maybe I’d do better with, say, Nick Nolte.

But I blame myself for most of these unfortunate encounters. Had the roles been reversed—if I was a beautiful actress, and some pasty, well-fed, middle-aged buffoon came up to me at a party and asked me something lame or inappropriate—I’d see it as my solemn duty to berate, humiliate, ignore.

On the other hand, I have enjoyed some wholly friendly and fruitful encounters with a few stars, among them Rose McGowan, Helena Bonham Carter, Maria De Madeiros, Rebecca Romijn, Bijou Phillips, Rachel Miner, Carol Channing, Phyllis Diller (by telephone), Bai Ling, and Pia Zadora. And even though I felt like an insect in amber after 20 minutes in Helen Mirren’s presence, she told me to buck up, for I’d conducted a perfectly fine and professional interview.

The obvious problem here is that actresses have been asked the same questions so many times, they know the interview game too well, and they’ve been trained to reveal as little as possible. And so, the journalist is a jerk; the cover story is glowing and shallow. One could go back and forth with this: Why should journalists, and the movie-going public, expect or demand any more from an actress than a great performance?

After years of dancing on the dark side in movies like Sleepy Hollow and Black Snake Moan, Christina Ricci shifts gears in the Wachowski Bothers’ cartoon inspired action flick Speed Racer. Can she shake her own demons long enough to be happy in Hollywood?

During lunch at Hollywood’s Sushi Roku, Christina Ricci-sporting Barbie-emblazoned ballet pumps, jeans, a roll-neck sweater and a woolly scarf knotted under her chin-is offering a master class on how to hold you own in this spring’s whizzziest blockbuster.

First off, rock the perfect outfit for flying helicopters; “A black leather catsuit that’s short, short,” she says , jabbing her chopsticks and repeating the word to emphasize the retro-futurist mini-ness of her chopper-jockey costume. “And black patent-leather stiletto boots. They’re perfect for working the pedals.”

Equally crucial is the correct noise to make when karate-chopping a villain. “Hi-YA!” you must yell at the top of your lungs before doing four cartwheels en route to safety.

From Giant Magazine – pick up the May 2008 for the full article!

Over at Cinematical, there is an opportunity to ask both Christina and Emile questions and have them answered!

I don’t remember a heck of a lot about the original Speed Racer TV show except that it had one of the great theme songs of all time. (Man, Greg Kihn spoke the truth: They really don’t write ’em like that anymore.) That, and Speed’s eyes were extraordinarily large and looked like a girl’s, and his mouth never seemed to match what he was saying. Oh, anime! We were so young and untrained in your ways.

Forty years after it ended its two-year run on TV, Speed Racer has grown up to be a movie, starring Emile Hirsch (as Speed) and Christina Ricci (as Speed’s girlfriend Trixie), both of whose eyes are appropriately large and well-lashed. Filmed by the Wachowski brothers (err, siblings?) in their first directorial effort since the Matrix movies, Speed Racer looks to be one of those movies that people will either love or hate. When we debuted the trailer back in December, it seemed like half the comments included the word “awesome,” while the other half included the letters (and symbol) “WTF?”

You’ll be able to see for yourself on May 9 whether the Wachowskis have pulled off the trick of transferring anime — and racetrack shenanigans — to the big screen. Meantime, we have more pressing business at hand: Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci have signed on for our Unscripted interview series, for which they’ll be asking each other your questions. And they can only do that if you get off your butt and submit one, so do it in the comments section below.

Please post your comment by Friday, April 18, and include your name and the city where you live. Go, Speed Racer fan, go!

You can ask your questions over at Cinematical

Christina is featured on the cover of the spring 2008 issue of “Movie Maker” magazine. You can find more information about the issue at the magazine’s website, MovieMaker.com. Also on the website you can order a copy of the magazine!

Welcome to the new layout here at Confessions of Christina Ricci… I’ve been working on this layout for a while and I wanted to kinda spring it on everyone. 😉 Please leave your thoughts on the new layout in the comments section. I hope you all like it as much as I do! 🙂

In other site news, I’ve got a bunch of gallery additions to add – so those will be coming on my next update.

There is a very cool contest going on right now to help promote Speed Racer. It’s called Race for Speed Racer and it’s a text message contest. You can view the grand prize below, it’s a $100,000 tricked out Corvette! Here’s the contest rules:

# Entries must be made by text on the Race for Speed Racer website (by entering your phone number and carrier) or by texting “fast” to 90736.
# On April 18th, participants will be notified how to answer a “Speed Racer” trivia question via text.
# They must answer the question within 2 minutes to qualify.
# 10 winners will be flown to premiere in Los Angeles to race (mini cars) for a car inspired by “Speed Racer”