The Speed Racer Movie: The Long Road from TV Screen to Silver Screen

With production beginning on June 7, 2007, and a tentative release date of May 9, 2008, Speed Racer is finally going to make the transition from animated TV series to live-action movie. One of the pioneering Japanese anime to crossover to the American market, Speed Racer has been around for over 40 years, which is about how long it's taken to bring the animated hero to the silver screen. The Speed Racer movie has been a long time coming, and the development of the Speed Racer movie may turn out to be more interesting than the movie itself.

In 1992, Warner Brothers issued a release stating that it owned the option to create a live-action Speed Racer movie. The movie was in development at Joel Silver's Silver Pictures, responsible for such hits at the time as Commando, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lethal Weapon, Predator and Die Hard. In 1994, square-jawed frontman of the Rollins Band, Henry Rollins, was set to play Racer X, (Speed's older brother, for those who don't know). In June, 1995 Johnny Depp was cast as Speed Racer. Production for the movie was slated to begin in October. Shooting would take place in California and Arizona. In August, Depp requested some personal time off. This delayed the project just long enough for it to fall apart. Attached to direct the movie at this time was Julien Temple, who had directed Earth Girls are Easy and Absolute Beginners. Temple took advantage of Depp's delay to leave the project. With Temple gone, Depp opted to withdraw from the project. In an effort to save the flagging production, Gus Van Sant was brought in to direct; however, the studio would not allow him to also write the script, so he declined. In 1997, the studio attempted to revive the project under A Little Princess director Alfonso Cuaron, but this attempt was short lived.

The issue seemed to be the script. Numerous screenwriters were brought in to work on it. Whiteboyz writer Marc Levin worked on it, as did Jennifer Flacket (Madeline), Jeffrey Abrams (Joy Ride) and Patrick Read Johnson (Dragonheart).

By late summer 2000, the Speed Racer movie once again looked to be a go, this time with writer-director Hype Williams at the helm. Warner Brothers commissioned yet another script, paying Christian Gudegast and "Prison Break" creator Paul Scheuring high six figures against $1.2 million to pen this draft. The project remained indefinitely in development and eventyally, Williams and the writers moved on to other projects.

In 2004, actor Vince Vaughn, a fan of the original Speed Racer series, attempted to revive the project. In this incarnation, Vaughn would play Racer X and also executive produce. He wanted to shift the focus of the movie toward increased character development. Once again, the Speed Racer movie got to the starting line, only to find that the race had been cancelled. The production never went active, and Vaughn left to pursue other projects.

Finally in October, 2006 Larry and Andy Wachowski expressed an interest in making the Speed Racer movie. After directing the mega-hit Matrix trilogy, the brothers were interested in doing a non-R rated movie. Joel Silver, who had been developing the Speed Racer movie since 1992 was thrilled to have the Wachowski's on board. Silver and the Wachowskis had worked together on the Matrix trilogy as well as V for Vendetta. The brothers wrote an all-new script for the movie, which will be shot in Germany. The new Speed Racer movie will rely heavily on computer graphics. The cast as of now consists of Emile Hirsch playing Speed, Christina Ricci as Trixie, John Goodman as Pops, Susan Sarandon as Speed's mother. Matthew Fox is slated to play Racer X. The Wachowski's plan to shoot the movie in high-def (the same system used to shoot Revenge of the Sith.)

The Speed Racer movie has taken 15 years to get made. Let's hope it reaches the finish line this time.