The Wachowski brothers' final cut of Speed Racer popped, rumbled and roared on screen when it was unveiled Wednesday on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California. The movie, which hits theaters May 9, stakes a claim as the most technically accomplished silver-screen spectacle since, well, the Wachowskis' Matrix pictures.
Sidestepping live-action "realism," the brothers pay homage to Speed Racer's cartoon pedigree by fusing human actors and CGI backgrounds into a candy-colored universe stitched together from exotic locales, retro-kitsch Americana, bee-hive-catapulting Viking cars and anime-inspired cities of the future.
Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox are convincing enough as Speed, girlfriend Trixie and Racer X, but it's the film's four whirly-dizzy race sequences that stake out new turf in the visual effects arena. Oscar-winning tech genius John Gaeta (The Matrix), visual effects co-supervisor Dan Glass (The Matrix Reloaded) and V for Vendetta director James McTeigue orchestrated the action for Wachowski and Wachowski. Here's how they did it.
Speed Racer (right) is neck-and-neck for the lead in a race. V for Vendetta director James McTeigue staged the speedway action against a 40-foot-by-200-foot green screen.
Lost star Matthew Fox (center) lands a punch midway through the Casa Cristo 5000 race. Growing up on a Wyoming farm, Fox never saw the original 1967 Speed Racer series until he got hired to play the mysterious Racer X.
Speed Racer whips through Cosmopolis' Corinthian columns. Background shots were assembled via QuickTime Virtual Reality to create 360-degree panoramas.
Trixie (played by Christina Ricci) has her eye on Speed Racer. Ricci bonded with the Wachowski brothers when she showed up for her audition and noticed they were wearing black Converse sneakers just like hers.
Speed Racer (played by Emile Hirsche) squints his way through the Zunubian Desert. Photograhers used ultra-high-resolution digital still cameras to capture images in Italy, Morocco, Austria, Turkey and California's Death Valley to create the Speed Racer locations.
Speed Racer spins out in the final stretch. The Wachowski brothers named the upgraded Mach 6 cars "T180s" because they have the capability to turn their wheels 180 degrees.
Trixie confronts Speed Racer.
Speed Racer in the cockpit. To protect actors during filming, each car was equipped with a safety device called "Kwiksave Foam" - - essentially a big rubber ball that inflates around drivers in case of a crash.
The Mach 5 beauty shot. The Wachowskis considered a more futuristic design for the famous Mach 5 racer but decided to stick to the classic profile. "We eventually came back to a semi-retro look with very sleek lines," said Speed Racer production designer Owen Paterson.
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