Go, Speed Racer! Gooooooo! (to Hollywood)

[Anchorman]

Not content with re-making Japanese flicks like "The Grudge," "The Ring" or "Shall We Dance"; or even making films about Japan, such as "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," Hollywood is now making movie versions of Japanese anime, starting with "Speed Racer," Sunday Mainichi (5/16-13) says.

Many Japanese are baffled by the American fascination for "Speed Racer," which was a reasonable success when it started airing here as "Maha Go Go (Mach Go Go)" in the mid-1960s.

But "Speed Racer" became a huge hit when it first showed Stateside in the '70s. The enduring appeal of the teenage racing car driver can be seen at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, which displays a life-sized model of the car that appeared in the cartoon series and was hand built by an American fan.

Hollywood has rolled out some fairly powerful players for the big screen version of "Speed Racer," with the Wachowski Brothers, best known for "The Matrix" series of films, penned in to direct, according to the weekly. Playing title character Speed will be Emile Hirsch, while Christina Ricci of "Monster" fame will be his offsider, Trixie. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman, playing Speed's parents, head a heavyweight Hollywood supporting cast.

Sunday Mainichi notes that the "Speed Racer" movie is only the latest incarnation of many attempts to get the story on the silver screen. In fact, the idea of a "Speed Racer" movie dates back to at least 1992, when Johnny Depp was all but set to play the lead role. However, plans for the movie were beset by all sorts of troubles, actors and directors pulled out one after another and the project never came to fruition.

Sunday Mainichi says filming on "Speed Racer" is due to begin in Berlin in July, and the movie's planned premiere will be in the United States on May 9, 2008, giving Japanese fans more than a year to wait before they can see how Hollywood deals with one of this country's oldest TV anime shows. (By Ryann Connell)