Cartoon-Based “Speed Racer” promises to be “Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen Before”

Having just returned from Las Vegas, I was pleased to find a story on mtv.com about the upcoming “Speed Racer” movie that was reported from Sin City itself.  The film’s star, Emile Hirsch, said the film based on the 1960’s animated series “has all these visuals and elements to it that you’ve never seen before.”

Matthew Fox, of “Lost” fame, who plays Racer X in the movie, echoed Hirsch’s sentiments.  “Larry and Andy [Wachowski] are huge fans of the material,” he said, ”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 brothers Wachowski are structuring the live-action movie like a cartoon as best they can, right down to a revolutionary new visual style that keeps the foreground and background of every shot in focus.  “There isn’t a film that’s been edited in this particular way,” said Christina Ricci, who plays Trixie.

“With this movie, they’re layering, layering, layering,” Ricci elaborated. “They’re layering these 2-D images in order to create depth, and that allows you to just sweep one image across the screen, the way that a cartoon does. It allows you to edit in a style that’s never been seen before, and they’re also using digital effects that no one has seen before. It’s just crazy.”

“Speed Racer” will be released nationwide in the U.S. on May 9.

 Photo by: Warner Brothers