At the Toronto Film Festival, we had the opportunity to interview Emile Hirsch about his new film Into The Wild. Sean Penn’s new film adaptation is is one of the best movies of 2007 so far. If the movie is in your city this week, go see it (it expands nationwide in the coming weeks).
Question: What do you think Christopher McCandless would think of this film?

Emile Hirsch: I think he’d be pretty excited about it and the effect it could have on people in a positive way. He’s a person from everything I’ve learned, was a person of action who wanted change. He’s a person who studied humanitarian things. [...]

As you probably know, while most of the sets might be computer generated, Speed Racer’s pet chimpanzee Chim-Chim is being played by an actual real monkey in the Wachowski Brothers big screen adaptation. There are now allegations that the chimp was beaten after biting one of the human actors. PETA is pissed:
“We are in receipt of information that may upset you,” PETA wrote to producer Joel Silver. “We’ve received several troubling complaints from people who have been on the ‘Speed Racer’ set and report that the main chimpanzee ‘actor’ has been beaten and has bitten one of the human actors.”
“We appreciate the concerns of your organization,” came back the letter [...]

Lost star Matthew Fox is in final negotiations to play Racer X in the Wachowski Brothers’ upcoming live-action adaptation of Speed Racer.
Emile Hirsch is Speed Racer, an eighteen-year-old who aspires to become a race car driver, but his father, automotive engineer “Pops” (John Goodman) disapproves. Speed with the help of the amazing Mach 5 race car and girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), embarks on a series of fantastic adventures that pit him and his friends against Skull Duggery, Snake Oiler, Mr. Wiley, and the Alpha Gang. Susan Sarandon is also on board to play Speed’s mother. Fox will play Speed’s mysterious arch-rival, Racer X. I wonder if Fox’s instant like-ability will [...]

Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, Dead Man Walking) and John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, The Flintstones) are in negotiations to co-star in The Wachowski Brothers’ big screen adaptation of Speed Racer.

Okay, we knew when The Wachowski Brothers were interested in make a family film, but we didn’t expect this. According to producer Joel Silver, the big screen adaptation of Speed Racer is being targeted for a G-Rating! How can they have any exciting car sequences at that level? Doesn’t intense action fall under PG? How can a car chase sequence be exciting without the threat of injury or violence?

Lords of Dogtown star Emile Hirsch is in final stalks to star in the Wachowski brothers’ big screen live action adaptation of Speed Racer.

The Wachowski Brother’s live-action Speed Racer movie was set to premiere on May 23rd, 2008, a day after the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series will be unleashed. Well not anymore, it looks like someone over at Warner Bros did the math.
Speed Racer will now hit theaters on May 9th 2008.
“We have been excited about ‘Speed Racer’ since we first announced the project. We see it as a movie with broad-based, worldwide appeal–from adults to teens to families–making it the perfect film to lead off our exciting 2008 Summer slate. We want to give ‘Speed Racer’ the maximum playability throughout the season, so moving it up to the earliest [...]

It looks like the Wachowski Brothers’ big screen adaptation of Speed Racer may be shot entirely on green screen.
Apparently, John Mathieson (Gladiator, Matchstick Men, Kingdom of Heaven) turned down an offer from the Wachowski Brothers to be director of Photography on the film. The cinematographer told students that he would rather make a Kylie Minogue video than shoot something entirely green screen, according to AICN.
Joel Silver previously told Empire Magazine “I don’t know if we’ll even use any cars,” spawning rumors that the Wachowskis would rely largely on CG for the film.
Also, at Wondercon Joel Silver confirmed that it would be a family friendly movie. This project just keeps sounding [...]