The Big Picture

• Emile Hirsch says that Speed Racer, directed by The Wachowskis, was ahead of its time with unique visual storytelling.
• The movie utilized motion capture and 3D cameras, blending CGI with real-world locations.
• Similar to the 1967 anime, Speed Racer eventually earned a cult following and is now considered a great film.

Back when Speed Racer premiered in 2008, it received a pretty mild welcome from both critics and fans. The reception is still registered at Rotten Tomatoes: It earned a lousy 42% approval rate from critics and a just-OK 60% audience score. And yet… it was a general feeling that there was something about it. In an interview to MovieWeb to promote his new movie Prey, Emile Hirsch decided to take a trip down memory lane and talk about how the perception of the movie directed by The Wachowskis (The Matrix film series) has changed over the years.

During the interview, Hirsch revealed that himself, the cast and crew were all baffled by the general reactions when the movie came out: "'I remember we were all like, 'Man, this movie so good. How come nobody gets it?'” At the same time, Hirsch mentions the fact that both Lana and Lilly Wachowski tend to be ahead of their time when it comes to visual storytelling. And it wasn’t any different with Speed Racer:

"They'd never really done that before in a movie. And kind of the really unique editing that they did on the film, to have all these different techniques and shifting things, it had a lot of aesthetic elements that audiences just at the time were totally not used to in any way. But since the years have gone on, those techniques have been used and employed in many, many other different films now."

Emile Hirsch Explains How The Wachowskis "Tricked" 2008 Audiences

The actor explained that there was a lot of motion capture involved in the production of Speed Racer, as well as the use of 3D cameras – which at the time audiences were mostly not used to. Another element that alienated viewers was that a lot of the movie’s landscape was perceived as full-blown CGI, when it wasn’t exactly like that in reality: “They photographed all these famous landmarks around the world. So when you're watching a lot of these race sequences, you're not watching CGI-created things. You're watching actual, photographic, 3D, real things that have been scanned into computers from photographs, and then collaged together."

Hirsch also pointed out the irony of the fact that Speed Racer – the movie – ended up having the same fate that Speed Racer – the 1967 anime series – did. Back when the children’s cartoon premiered, it was only mildly successful: It ran for only 52 episodes, which is a small episode count when you compare it to other kids’ shows. However, the anime earned a cult following and became a huge pop cultural reference, and the same happened with the movie. Now, sixteen years after its premiere, Speed Racer is wildly considered a great movie that was years ahead of its time.

Hirsch’s next movie Prey is now available in theaters and on Digital.