Speed Racer Returns: Real Live Mach 5 Motoring
Channel Staff - 1/June/2007 | 
The Mach 5 looks awesome!
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Berlin, Germany — Fans of the late 1960s Japanese cartoon Mach Go Go Go - known in English-speaking countries as Speed Racer, will probably already be well informed that the makers of the Matrix trilogy and V for Vendetta action films, the Wachowski Brothers, have just started filming the live action version of the cartoon in Germany. The new Speed Racer
film is due in cinemas in mid 2008, but the news we're more interested
about is the iconic car that's going to be the film's major attraction
for a lot of people, called the Mach 5. Warner Bros. has
released the first image of the new car, which sits on large wheels
with Yokohama tyres and features a triple pointed front cowl. In
the cartoon the Mach 5 race car was owned by a racing family and its
monkey, Chim Chim, and the car was special in number of ways - a real
gadget car. The Mach 5 had a special keypad that could activate a
number of interesting features, such as an instant hit of 5,000
horsepower to all four wheels, a submarine mode, and even extendable
rotary saws to cut down trees (it was 1967...). Whether these key
features will make it into the film is still unknown, but computer
graphics will play a large role in the film so it's likely many of the
zany features from the cartoon will appear in the film. Emile
Hirsch is the actor who will be playing Speed Racer and told USA
Today, "My first thought was, 'Yeah, they got the car right.
That's one of the best things about the show, so it was always going to
be one of the most important parts of the movie." The storyline
revolves around Speed Racer attempting to make a name for himself on
the race track, and will be aimed at a younger audience. The Speed Racer
film also stars Matthew Fox as Racer X and Christina Ricci as Trixie,
plus John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer and Pops
Racer. Chim Chim will also be in the movie, and will be played by a
chimpanzee.
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