Since Warner Bros. has been loading the TV with commercials and most of you have seen the trailer, I don’t think I need to give too much background on the film. The only thing I really want to say is how much I loved the movie. Yes, I loved the movie.

While I think it’s safe to assume some critics will dismiss the movie as nothing more than a special effects spectacle with no heart…I would absolutely disagree. The film is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to watching a live action cartoon and I think it completely captures what the animated show was all about. Plus, it’s a family film that’s completely safe for all age groups. Yup, the Wachowski’s have made a film that everyone can see…even little kids!

Anyway, to help promote the movie I recently participated in roundtable interviews with most of the people involved. I’ve already posted the interviews with Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci and Joel Silver…up now is Emile Hirsch.

During the very funny interview (which I recommend listening to) he talks about making the movie, why he wanted to work for the Wachowski’s, how he hates Fast and the Furious, what he has coming up and a lot more.

As always, you can either read the transcript below or download the audio as an MP3 by clicking here. And if you want to watch some movie clips from “Speed Racer,” click here. 

Emile Hirsch: What's up guys? How you doin’?

Q: You saw the movie before as well as last night. Like it?

Emile: Yeah. I love the movie. I think it's great. I mean, what the brothers did with it is so wild and imaginative, ya know.

Q: Better than you hoped for?

Emile: Yes. You read the script and it’s so descriptive of the whole world. But you have no idea what it's going to be until you see it. And the way they made the colors pop and all the things they did with the focus, and integrating the photographs, it was really quite beautiful I thought.

Q: Were you loving the green screen experience? John said it was like working in low-budget New York theater.

Emile: That's funny. That's pretty funny. He's right. There are no sets or props. It’s like your doing "Waiting for Godot" or something.

Q: Was it disorienting?

Emile: Yeah. You're like, wow!

Q: What are your memories of it?

Emile: Just kind of this green wall, talking to it, thinking about it. What was really weird was doing the car scenes because we did it on a hydraulic pump called a gimbal. All of my anger in the film is so authentic because they were just slamming me around in the simulator for hours. It was green and hot and there's lights on you and you can't move because you're strapped in. You get literally frustrated to the point where you want to rip the thing apart with a bat, and auggghh. I think I have a drawing of me breaking it. I'm serious. All the scenes where I'm like arrrggh, it's just me. Imagine if it was comfortable and I was happy, I'd be like, Hey, guys, get out of my way (smiling).

Q: Acting difference between this and Into the Wild?

Emile: Well, those movies take place in real life so they're supernaturalistic. That's a whole different style as an acting thing. This is way more comic-booky, stylish. I mean, there's a little bit of naturalism, but it's way stylized. All the lines are really crisp and specific. It's different in those kinds of ways. You don't have any of the background. And the film takes place in a universe, or a time, you don't know what it. It's Speed Racer world.

Q: Does it make it harder? Do you wonder if you're going too big?

Emile: You just gotta trust the directors. That was the biggest thing. I was like, are you guys sure? They said, just trust us. Just trust us. They didn't actually say that but that's what they were implying by their silence. It works. What's cool about the characters and the acting style in the movie, there's a lot of different kind of tones to certain characters. Like Racer X and Speed are pretty serious a lot of the time but then Spritle and Chim Chim are like outrageous, and Chim Chim is dangling on the steering wheel and flying around and hitting guys on the head with a monkey wrenches.

Q: When you say lines like Inspector Detector suspected foul play are you expecting camp?

Emile: I don't know. He's talking about his brother's death and he's like, Inspector Detector suspected foul play. (scrunches his face). It's like Inspector Detector suspected foul play but nothing could be proved, and then you're like (another look of disbelief). Or like, I was tooling timing pins with Pops.

Q: Why do you like to play outsider types?

Emile: I don't know. There's something about the good-hearted guy fighting the system. I just love that. That's how Speed is. He's a really focused guy with a heart of gold and the corporations are trying to crush him and use him for his skills to make them more money. And when he doesn't want to play ball, they want to destroy him.

Q: Did you watch the cartoon in preparation?

Emile: I watched it as a kid. I was a big fan of the show. I watched it on Cartoon Network. I also watched all 52 episodes in preparation for the part. Big waste of time. No. No. No. I can't take that time back.

Q: Was it your choice to make the Speed Racer sideways move?

Emile: No. That was a nod to the show. It was great. I'm a really big fan of the show. The tone of it is so fun and crazy and it's the perfect Saturday morning cartoon show when you're a kid. The movie takes it to a level where it's a lot more accessible for adults than the show was. For me. For me, I was a lot more engaged by the movie than the show.

Q: When you make a movie like this, are you aware that the Wachowskis are going to bring a unique spin to a blockbuster?

Emile: Yes. That was the main thing that made me go crazy about this movie. These guys are just such... I view these guys are more hard core artists than people making smaller, hard core art films. These guys are very very talented and take their work very seriously. The genre and the kind of films they make, by their very nature, require insane budgets to even make ... I remember when I saw "The Matrix" when I was 13, I saw it in the theaters, and I was so blown away by it. It was one of the most memorable experiences I definitely ever had in the theater. That kind of stuff you never forget and it stays with you. Here, you get a chance to work with them and it's like, ooh, ooh, ooh.

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