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SPEED RACER - Coming to theatres 2008!

jacobsnchz

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Speed Racer (film)

Speed Racer is a 2008 live action film adaptation of the 1960s animated series Speed Racer. The film is to be directed by the Wachowski Brothers with a release date set for May 23, 2008.[1]
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Premise

Speed Racer "will follow the adventures of the young race car driver Speed in his quest for glory in his thundering gadget-laden vehicle, Mach 5. The movie will feature other characters from the show, including Speed's family and his mysterious archrival, Racer X".[2]
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Production

In September 1992, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that it held the option to create a live-action adaptation of Speed Racer, in development at Silver Pictures.[3] In October 1994, singer Henry Rollins was offered the role of Racer X in the film.[4] In June 1995, actor Johnny Depp was cast into the lead role for Speed Racer, with production slated to begin the coming October,[5] with filming to take place in California and Arizona.[6] The following August, Depp requested time off to the studio for personal business, delaying production.[7] However, due to a high budget,[8] 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,[9] though it would not grant Sant writing privileges.[10] In December 1997, the studio briefly hired director Alfonso Cuarón for Speed Racer.[11] 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.[12]
In September 2000, Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Lauren Shuler Donner hired writer-director Hype Williams to take the helm of Speed Racer.[13] 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.[12] 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.[8]
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 Wachowskis for V for Vendetta, explained that the brothers were hoping to reach a broader audience with a film that was not R-rated. Special effects supervisor John Gaeta, who won an Academy Award for Visual Effects for the Wachowskis' 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.[14] In November 2006, the release date for Speed Racer was set for May 23, 2008.[1] In December 2006, Silver announced the actual shooting location for Speed Racer to be in Germany. The producer also shared a computer-generated possibility: "I don’t know if we’ll even use any cars."[15]
In February 2007, the Wachowski brothers selected Babelsberg Studios in Germany to film Speed Racer.[16] Filming will commence on June 5, 2007 in Berlin.[17] High School Musical star, Zac Efron has a callback audition for the role as of March 11, 2007.
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External link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Speed_Racer
 

Speed Tracer

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God, I'm such a big Speed Racer fan (as if it weren't obvious). Next May is pretty huge... Speed Racer, Indiana Jones IV, Iron Man, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian... oh, and isn't The Power of the Dark Crystal supposed to arrive in May as well? Score one for nostalgia.
 

Drtooth

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I just got into Speed Racer a month ago (I finally bought the DVD's as part of Target's 2 pack rebundling) and I love it. Now all I'm saying is.... Japanese cartoon into an american movie with american actors... This is why I prayed Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball would never get made.
 

Speed Tracer

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Looks like Emile Hirsch is going to play the lead role... awesome.
 

Drtooth

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Do you think they'll pull a MWS productions and make Trixie (Michi) a blonde too?
 

jacobsnchz

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Zac Efron would've been good too but he's kinda too young! :smile:
 

Speed Tracer

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Man, I can't wait for this now. I really love Ricci.

Also, the entire thing is apparently CGI, except for the actors. Intriguing. Says producer Joel Silver, "We may not even use real cars."
 
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