The summer box office blow out has just begun, next up is Warner Bros.' SPEED RACER opening in theaters Friday, May 9th!


The IESB and a group of journalists sat down with Emile Hirsch, the star of the live action feature film, and talked at length about the film and bringing this 40 year old cartoon series to the big screen plus gave a few updates on his next few projects!

Read the interview in its entirety below,


Q: Was yesterday the first time you saw it?

EH: The second, the second. I actually saw it the day before for the first time.

Q: Your reaction?

EH: I mean, I love the movie. I think what the Wachowskis did was just so amazing. You see a movie like The Matrix, you're like, "God, what are they going to do next?" Then they do something like this. It's just so new and different and fun.

Q: So no actual driving school?

EH: No, no, I actually didn't even get into a car the whole time I was in Europe. No, I got into a car, I just was never behind the wheel, because I didn't want to pretend that I was in one of the real cars because the real cars are just so much better than a normal car.

Q: What's the fastest you've ever gone in real life?

EH: Like 60. No, I'm a very, very conservative driver.

Q: Are you a car guy?

EH: I am, I am. I love cars but me and my friend, when I got this part, we looked up on Youtube and we looked up "car accidents" and stuff, or something. No, no, "NASCAR wrecks." Some of these crazy fans out there, they made this 10 minute heavy metal like ROAR, and you're literally seeing these wrecks. After that, it was kind of like when the dad sees his kid smoking and he makes him smoke a carton. It was like I was so wrecked out that I was like, "Let's go drive 30 miles an hour."

Q: So no safety soap bubbles?

EH: No, no soap bubbles.

Q: There's no danger in Speed Racer.

EH: Well, do you know what kind of whiplash that foam can give you?

Q: When you're playing a cartoon character, you can't just be tongue in cheek.

EH: Or can I?

Q: How do you ride that line?

EH: Well, it was just trying to maintain the integrity of that world, whatever that means. No, Speed is a very, very passionate, serious guy who's completely committed to doing the right thing. He's not willing to sell out to the big corporate conglomerate.

Q: What thoughts did you have about doing a big movie?

EH: You know, I was so excited to sell out to a big corporate conglomerate. I was pretty much, "This is the greatest thing that ever happened." No.

Q: You must have had to think about it.

EH: No, no, no. I was very eager to- - no, no.

Q: Career wise, what was your thought process?

EH: Yeah, in all honesty, I thought about it for a second but at the end of the day, it was all about the Wachowski brothers. Yeah, it's this big summer movie, but…

Q: Have your impressions of doing a big movie changed since doing one?

EH: Yes. Now I've realized that what you think of when you make a "big movie," if it's actually a green screen movie, it's like doing independent New York theater because you don't have any backgrounds or props. So it's kind of like making the lowest budgeted film you could possibly imagine, plus $100 million.

Q: How much was green screen?

EH: Yeah, it was about 100% green screen.

Q: Does not knowing you're in a day-glo world ground you?

EH: Well, luckily, green's my favorite color. No, I really do like green, but you ground yourself by constantly looking at the images of what the background is going to be. That was really one of the most helpful parts. I'd go up to John Gaeta, the special effects expert, and he'd open up his laptop and he'd be like, 'OK, this is your environment.' I'd go, 'OK, perfect.' So then when I'm out there looking at the green screen, I'm pretending cars are coming. And there's a couple seconds where you're like, 'God, this is a little weird. This is kind of crazy.' Then I'm like, 'Well, that's what this is.'

Q: Working with the Wahcowskis?

EH: With the Wachowskis, you're like, "Gosh, they're so mysterious" and then you meet them and they're just the most down to earth, grounded, awesome guys you'll ever meet. Just such amazing imaginations and so- - just so present with what they do and they all have it in their heads.

Q: Where was this in terms of Into the Wild and Milk?

EH: I had done Into the Wild and I was just sitting on a couch and I guess I got the call and I was like, "Making Speed Racer, huh? Hmm, I loved that show as a kid." Then I go, "Well, who's going to direct it." Then pause, "The Wachowski Brothers." And I'm like, "Ooh, wow."

Q: You never thought about how it would affect people's image of you in serious films? Was it just about the Wachowskis?

EH: I guess that there's always the idea that you can typecast yourself as something like that. That was kind of my goal. No, no, no. You know, when you want to be known as Speed for the rest of your life, do a movie called Speed Racer. I think the truth about it is I think these days that there's so many movies and so much media that it's not like it was in the old days where you could only play one role. Look, you have Johnny Depp doing Pirates and then he's doing Sweeney Todd and he's great. You have Edward Norton playing The Hulk. You have a wonderful actor like Robert Downey, Jr. doing Iron Man. I think that the genre of some of these, the genres are widening. I don't think that there's as many limitations on the kinds of projects that actors can do as there once was. I genuinely believe that. And I think that part of that is just the huge amount of media that's opened up with the internet and DVDs and there's so much TV. There's just less to box people in as there used to be.

Q: What did you love about Speed Racer as a kid and what did you try to bring?

EH: Well, when I was a kid and I watched Speed Racer, I used to always watch it in the morning with my cereal. And when I ate the cereal, I would pour soda into the cereal because we never really had milk for some reason, I don't know. It was just one of those crazy shows that you watch on a sugar rush and just are like, "Whoa." The colors and the action and just the sense of adventure is immediately what always appeals to the kid. Watching it now, the show now, it's kind of the retro cool and the kind of camp value that you really appreciate.

Q: Did you feel that sugar rush in the Wachowskis' presentation?

EH: I didn't have cereal with soda. You've got some Diet Coke over there. Anyone got some Crispy Sweets?

Q: As a fan, what did you think of the updates?

EH: Oh, I couldn't believe the way they have the tracks with all the colors and the segues from Royalton's factory. I thought Spritle and Chim Chim were just so funny. I mean, the monkey. The monkey is amazing. His acting teacher was on set every single day.

Q: The level of acting in a film like this?

EH: Yeah, I mean, they wanted to make a family film and maybe it's just that the kids in their family are really sophisticated or something, but I think you're right. I don't know if that was the total intention. They definitely wanted to make an all and out kids movie. I shouldn't say kids movie, I should say family movie because I watched it with a bunch of my friends who are all around 23, 24, 25 and they loved it. They didn't watch it and go, "Oh, it's a cool kids' movie." They were like, "That was a cool movie."

Q: When you saw the final product, was it all your expected?

EH: It was so much more because when you're on the green screen, you have to substitute. You have to substitute it with your imagination. The Wachowski Brothers just have that much crazier of an imagination than I do. Maybe they have that particular visual crazy gift. So the wildest thing I could imagine pales in comparison to what they had already imagined and managed to put on screen which is kind of part of their genius that they just are able to do that. So many people have these wild visuals and stuff but the Wachowskis are able to create them in a real way and put them on screen in a way that engages people. The climax at the Gran Prix for me was one of the most intense sequences that I've seen in a long time.

Q: Are they doing an action figure for you?

EH: Oh yeah, my action figure, I look like Dennis Quaid circa '95, circa about 1995 which for me is an upgrade.

Q: Favorite thing about working with Christina?

EH: The fact that I'm taller than her. No, no, no. She's great. She's wonderful and we just had a fun time. Everyone on the set got along so great. We all had such good camaraderie. It's weird, actors, when they're put on a massive empty space green screen, they just naturally kind of huddle together in a corner.

Q: How is playing Cleve Jones?

EH: I'm done. I'm all done. We had a great time in San Francisco.

Q: What boy jokes were you doing around the girls?

EH: Hmm, it's a family movie. I don't remember actually. I'm covering because I don't remember.

Q: Challenges of this film, green screen, nothing on set…

EH: You're depressing me right now. No, it was very, very challenging being on this thing called the gimble. It would throw you around, give you whiplash and they'd tie you down and it would be hot and you would sit in it for a couple hours and wet your pants and all that. No, you wouldn't wet your pants but you're literally strapped into this thing and it is just thrashing you about. You know, you use it so all those scenes in the movie where I'm like angry or really determined, I'm genuinely angry. I'm just upset at being in it. I'm claustrophobic in it. I'm just ready to rip something apart. I'm just like GRRRRRR. Whereas if I was having an amazing experience in a gimble that was really comfortable, I'd be like smiling, it's like, "Action," [mimics half-assed growl]. Wouldn't be as convincing. So luckily, I was actually able to use the extreme discomfort of the gimble.

Q: How many days in the gimble?

EH: 20. By myself. Getting thrashed around.

Q: They shot everyone individually?

EH: Yup. There was only one gimble and they'd just be trading people in the whole time. And the first five days we used on the gimble they had to throw out because they hadn't mastered the lighting yet.

Q: What did they give you to focus on?

EH: US Magazine. I'm like, "You guys, I'm dying in here. Can't you get anything?" They're like, "Ve have dis German version of US. It's called Frankfurt." It wasn't called Frankfurt but for real.

Q: Who's on the German cover of Us?

EH: Uh, Jean Claude Van Damme. He's not German, is he? Big German star, big German star. Uh, uh, uh, uh, what's the guy's name on the Simpsons? McBain.

Q: Are there any other famous Emiles?

EH: Um, I think that there probably would have been at some point. I don't know. Emile Zola, wasn't he a poet? You're like, "If they're not actors, they don't matter."

Q: Was there a scene cut out where Goodman rips into you?

EH: Well, the scene where he's like, "You think you can drive a car and change the world? You wanna die like your brother?" Like he was a little soft on me. I probably would have hit you.

Q: How much of your own fighting did you do?

EH: We worked with these stunt guys named Chad and Dave who were like master fighters, and it was really funny because we actually got pretty tough for actors and stuff, but at one point, me and my buddy Kick who plays Sparky, we were standing around and we were like, "Hey, Chad and Dave." Chad and Dave are just like rocks. We're like, "Hey guys, how many Hollywood actors do you guys think that you guys could take on at once." Chad was like, dead serious, "20?" Dave was like, "No, no, no, dude. Like 30." He's like, "Yeah, maybe 35, maybe 40." We were like [whistles] and I believed it because they're such beasts. They have eight pack, I have a thing, a blob.

Q: Do you worry about your own profile raising from this film?

EH: Do I worry about it? I mean, yeah, of course, you want to be ready for anything that comes to you like that. You want to feel like you still have your privacy and stuff like that, of course, of course. But I'm going to publish my life story in like a week, so I don't want to damn myself.

Q: Do you ask yourself how you're going to make this cool?

EH: You're like, "You didn't look cool, so how do you feel about it?" No, see, I thought it looked really cool and I thought that it looked cool on the show.

Q: It's one thing in animation. Seeing it in real life…

EH: I mean, I think that if I was in that outfit in a scene walking down the streets of Manhattan, it might have looked a little weird, but the world- -

Q: Not at Comic-Con.

EH: I would have looked good there too. Next to a Klingon, anything looks good. But I think it's a crazy world. Everyone was just able to get into it from that. The scarf, we had a lot of big debates about the scarf. We were like, "God, should we, shouldn't we, should we?" Then in the end we were like, "Oh, we gotta." And I loved the scarf. More of the scarf in the second one if we make one.

Q: Did you look at Viva Las Vegas? Elvis was the model for Speed.

EH: Oh yeah, I love Elvis and the hair was super exacting on getting every little hair right.

Q: How long did that take?

EH: Like five minutes. No, no, no. It took a while. We experimented with some different styles and we had a bunch of photos we were looking at. It was good.

Q: How does having Elvis's hair affect one?

EH: Your lip goes like that a lot. No, the whole '60s Elvis kind of James Bond-y kind of vibe to the character was really a big attraction. It was just fun. It feels like it's this huge futuristic weird dimension but it's got a lot of the aesthetics from the '60s. It's a nice mix.

Q: How quickly did you put weight back on after Into the Wild?

EH: Really quick but it's really easy. When you lose weight, I was just eating candy and stuff. It was like, "Oh God, take five? Take 20."

Q: How do the discomforts of this compare to Into the Wild?

EH: You know what's crazy is in a weird way, it was almost emotionally more difficult to make Speed Racer because you're on the green screen and it's just so taxing and you're doing a lot more takes and it's so technical. So a lot of the things that you think would be easier, oh, you're on the safety of the green screen and you've got a big budget and you've got the nice catering. In a weird way, it's still harder on you mentally. Into the Wild, I'm like climbing mountains in a kayak and everything is so raw and you're just like, "Aw, this is so great." You're rejuvenated at the end of every day whereas a lot of the times when you shoot on green screen, even if you're having a great time and stuff, it's still is taking from you versus giving to you. I kind of felt that a little bit but luckily we had a really great cast that really stuck together, great support system and we were doing fun stuff. Good people.

Q: What's next?

EH: Milk. Milk with Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk, the famous gay supervisor of San Francisco. Josh Brolin's in it and Gus Van Sant directed it.

Q: Who's playing Dan?

EH: Dan is Josh.

Q: And you?

EH: I play this guy Cleve Jones who was one of Harvey Milk's associates who's a gay rights activist who founded the AIDS quilt later on in his life.

Q: What kind of research?

EH: I read this book. We spent some time in San Francisco but also read this book called The Times of Harvey Milk- - The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Schultz which was really nice.

Q: And a documentary film?

EH: Yeah, the documentary is The Times of Harvey Milk.

Q: Sean the actor vs Sean the director?

EH: I mean, we had a lot of fun working with the actor and he wasn’t really telling me what to do, so it was kind of fun.

Q: Did he get you the part?

EH: He didn't call me about it. Gus did. I think he was probably like, "Oh, I just spent nine months with that kid. I don't want to see him anymore. He's so annoying." And then Gus was like, "Please."

Q: Would you like to work with Brittany Snow?

EH: Yeah, sure.

Q: How do you prepare for the beach?

EH: I like playing tennis and running.