We know Speed Racer will be a visual treat with plenty of action, but perhaps it will have good values too. Christina Ricci, who plays Trixie, described all the progressive women’s lib stuff she gets to play in the movie.
“Speed Racer was the most fun ever,” she said. “That’s another example of a great role model character for girls because she’s smart, she’s funny and she does all the things the boys do. She kung fu fights, she drives a car, she races and she flies a helicopter. But she has a specific outfit that she wears when she flies the helicopter, and her lipstick always matches something she’s wearing. She gets to be everything. She’s celebrated as a girl and a woman, but she’s also not treated any differently than the male characters are. So, it was so much fun, in that respect. I like being dressed up and I like doing stunts.”
That specific look also included really short hair, which Ricci resisted. After her requests for a wig were denied, she relented. “It was the Wachowskis. It’s Speed Racer. I can always ask for a wig on the second one. You feel like, if you do it once, then you’re justified in saying, ‘Okay, I did it, and I don’t want to anymore.'”
Finished footage of Speed Racer has not only produced the visual thrills one might expect. “A lot of guys were crying at the end of the 15 minute [reel] because there’s this real guy-sad thing. Also, every character in it is a very specific, funny character. Mom is always going to have her apron on, and Sparky is going to always be Chaplin-esque and funny, and Mr. Royalton will always be evil. It’s just fun. Everything about the movie makes it feel like an event movie, so that’s exciting.”
Ricci is joined in the Wachowski-rendered Speed Racer by Emile Hirsch as Speed, Matthew Fox as Racer X, John Goodman as Pops, and Susan Sarandon as Mom. Speed will race into theaters May 9, 2008.
