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Fast-talking: Hirsch, Ricci share thoughts on 'Speed Racer'

The Associated Press

12:58 PM EDT, May 6, 2008

LAS VEGAS -- "Speed Racer" stars Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci are better known for smaller independent movies than summer blockbusters.

Yet they could not pass up the chance to work with Larry and Andy Wachowski on the brothers' first writing-directing effort after "The Matrix" trilogy.

After the lesbian thriller "Bound" and their science-fiction franchise, all dark R-rated affairs, the Wachowskis have gone the family route with the PG-rated "Speed Racer," a live-action and computer-animated update of the TV cartoon series.

Hirsch, who starred last year in Sean Penn's acclaimed drama "Into the Wild," plays Speed, the young phenomenon of the Racer family, who gets behind the wheel to take on a corrupt corporate honcho ruining auto racing.

Ricci, most recently seen as a pig-faced girl in the fairy-tale romance "Penelope," plays Speed's girlfriend Trixie, who flies the skies in her helicopter to scout out the race course.

With the Wachowskis reteaming with "Matrix" producer Joel Silver, "Speed Racer" also stars John Goodman, Susan Sarandon,

Matthew Fox and a pet chimpanzee that's constantly getting into trouble.

Hirsch, 23, and Ricci, 28, chatted with The Associated Press at March's ShoWest theater-owners convention, where distributor Warner Bros. showed off footage of "Speed Racer." The movie opens Friday.

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AP: Given the more serious films the two of you often do, a big summer action movie doesn't seem like an obvious choice.

Ricci: But this is the coolest, because it's the Wachowski brothers, and also, it's not your average cheesy big blockbuster. It's really awesome.

Hirsch: There's something just so wonderfully rebellious about the idea of being like some serious actor and having to just do those kind of movies, where I wanted to spit on the idea and just do something so wrong. But it's so right.

Ricci: And so much about choices for me is about what's going to be fun. This sounded like so much fun. You get to go do an action-y film and a really stylized character. To me, that's fun.

AP: The racing sequences were created by computer animation. Was there any actual driving involved?

Hirsch: I'd skateboard around set, but I don't think I actually drove a car once the entire time. ... But the thing they put us on, they put us on this thing called a gimbal, which is basically a braced piece, like a rollercoaster car, suspended up in the air with a hydraulic rig. That has a lot of power. If they crank that thing max it could break your neck from the force, the G force is that strong. They would just thrash us around. I think I spent a total of 20 days on the gimbal.

AP: Out of how many days?

Hirsch: Out of 60.

Ricci: I was only in there one day, in the gimbal. ... It happened to be a Saturday, so the brothers were in charge of how fast and hard the car was getting punched, instead of, like, a second-unit director. And they got really into it. I was just like, OK, whatever, we'll go with this. But I like being bruised up. I actually had to get out of the car and vomit and get back in.

AP: What was the most fun thing about s ting "Speed Racer"?

Hirsch: There was this chimpanzee on the set. "Fun" may not be the proper word for it, but he was the part that just directed all my attention to it. I loved the chimpanzee. We all did.