Emile Hirsch ready to sit in Speed Racer's driving seat

He’s been a skateboarder (Lords Of Dogtown) and a voyeur/porn-obsessed teenager (The Girl Next Door), but now Emile Hirsch is ready to slap the pedal to the metal.

He’s approaching the finishing line for the lead in Speed Racer, which will be the next CG-laden action epic from Matrix writing/directing team the Wachowski brothers.

For those who don’t know the plot, Speed Racer was adapted from the 1960s anime series and features young race driver Speed as he seeks glory with his tricked-out motor and helpful family. Haunting his rear-view mirror is the mysterious Racer X… According to the Wachowskis (well, their spokesgob, since the brothers Wach never give interviews), the film will feature his entire family, though hopefully not the very, very annoying monkey sidekick.

The film is set to shoot mostly against greenscreen this summer in Germany, for a summer 2008 release.

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