The 1960s Japanese animated series Speed Racer is becoming a live-action film under the direction of Andy and Larry Wachowski, creators of The Matrix trilogy. The Speed Racer movie focuses on Speed (Emile Hirsch) and his battle to become the greatest driver while saving the family business from rival Royalton Industries. The Speed Racer movie is scheduled for release on May 9, 2008.

The Speed Racer movie plot thickens when Royalton invites Speed to join the Royalton Industries race team. Being loyal to the family business, led by Pops Racer (John Goodman) the designer of the Mach 5, Speed turns down the lucrative offer. The rejection infuriates Royalton and he vows that Speed and his Mach 5 will never cross another finish line in one piece. This threat is very real as Speed uncovers the secret that some of the biggest races are being fixed by Royalton and his associates to boost company profits. The only way for Speed to save the family business and the motorsport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game.

With the support of his family and his girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams up with his one-time rival Racer X (Matthew Fox) to win The Crucible, a cross country rally race that took the life of his older brother Rex Racer (Scott Porter).

The Speed Racer movie has been in development since 1992 and has struggled to become a finished product. In 1994, singer Henry Rollins was offered the role of Racer X and in June 1995, Johnny Depp was cast into the lead role as Speed and production was slated to begin the coming October. October came and went and the following August, director Julien Temple left the project and later Depp quit. In December 1997, director Alfonso Cuarón was briefly hired and later in September 2000, Hype Williams was added to the project. In 2001, the studio hired screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring to write a script for the film. Production never began and the director and writers quit. In June 2004, actor Vince Vaughn lead a revival of the Speed Racer movie, was cast as Racer X, and named as an executive producer. Nevertheless, production of the movie never became active, and Vaughn left the project.

Finally in October 2006, directors Andy and Larry Wachowski were brought on board to write and direct the Speed Racer movie. In February 2007, the Wachowski brothers selected Babelsberg Studios in Germany to film Speed Racer. The Speed Racer movie was shot entirely against greenscreen and filmed in high-definition video, a first for the Wachowskis. A layering technique is being used to put both the foreground and background in focus giving the appearance of a real-life anime. The Speed Racer trailer almost looks like a video game and features a retro futuristic looking environment. Watch the Speed Racer Movie trailer at the official website.

Warner Bros. is self-publishing a video game based on Speed Racer to be released on the Nintendo DS, Wii and PlayStation 2. The Speed Racer video game will be released on the Nintendo DS and Wii in May with the movie’s release, and the game will be released on the PS2 the following fall to accompany the film’s DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray release. Due to a short development schedule, Warner Bros. chose not to develop video games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

Official Speed Racer Movie Website:

http://speedracerthemovie.warnerbros.com/