Since Warner Bros. has been loading the TV with commercials and most of you have seen the trailer, I donât think I need to give too much background on the film. The only thing I really want to say is how much I loved the movie. Yes, I loved the movie.
While I think itâs safe to assume some critics will dismiss the movie as nothing more than a special effects spectacle with no heartâ¦I would absolutely disagree. The film is the closest thing Iâve ever seen to watching a live action cartoon and I think it completely captures what the animated show was all about. Plus, itâs a family film thatâs completely safe for all age groups. Yup, the Wachowskiâs have made a film that everyone can seeâ¦even little kids!
Anyway, to help promote the movie I recently participated in roundtable interviews with most of the people involved. Iâve already posted the interview with Matthew Fox and Christina Ricci, and up now is producer Joel Silver.
During the interview he talked about making the movie, working with Larry and Andy, and a lot more. If youâre curious about the making of âSpeed Racer,â this is the person to listen to.
As always, you can either read the transcript below or download the audio as an MP3 by clicking here. And if you want to watch some movie clips from âSpeed Racer,â
Again, âSpeed Racerâ opens this Friday and I really suggest checking it out.
Question: Now is it nice to be able to talk about the film now that everyone has seen it?
Joel Silver: Yeah, sure. I mean, Iâm still kind ofâ¦I have a little fear until it comes out but Iâm happy to talk about it, yeah. I love it.
Question: We saw you at the theatreâyou were there last night werenât you?
Joel Silver: Yeah.
Q: What did youâ¦did you watch it just to see the reaction of everyone.
Joel Silver: Look, I mean we had a screening down here in
Q: Talk about the biggest challenges on the film-- technically, logistically.
Joel Silver: It was a technical nightmare to have the realization of what the boys wanted to do. I mean, the brothers had thisâ¦when it all came about I mean they knew I had the project for awhile and after âVâ or some point after âVâ they called me up one day and said, âwhat are you doing with that Speed Racer thing?â and I said, âwell, Iâm strugglingâ and they said, âwe have an ideaâ and I said âwell, go for itâ so they had this notion of making what they considered live-action anime and thatâs what it isâlive-action anime. And they said we want to show you what we want to do and if the studio likes it, we have a way of making a movie of this, and if they donât, then weâll do something else.
Q: How long did you have it? You said you had it for a while.
Joel Silver: Almost 20 years.
Q: Well, what was initial idea for it? Where you going to do it strictly as an animated movie?
Joel Silver: No, a lot of people had been involved. There were a lot of scripts written, a lot of directors attached. I mean, there were rumors of actors attached. No one was ever really attached, I mean there was a lot of discussion about the movie but really it couldnât have been made in this fashion until right now.
Q: Why?
Joel Silver: Because the technology didnât really exist to do this. I mean, yeah there was a version that they were scouting locations for race tracks and they were designing cars to be built and I remember one of the of the thingsâthe cost of the car was $1 million to build this car that would allâyou know chrome and it couldnât be photographed from any angleâI donât know what the hell they were doing, you know? But the way that it was done where the cars could do things that youâve never seen before could only be done in this fashion with the way these guys want to do it.
Q: When Larry and Andy say to you they have an idea, do you sort of turn away and just are smiling from ear to ear?
Joel Silver: Yes.
Joel Silver: I mean he said to me Iâm going to make your day, he said to me, you know, he knew it.
Q: And Iâm curious how enthusiasticâ¦was the studio immediately enthusiastic when they found out they wanted to do it? How did that work?
Joel Silver: Well of course they were enthusiastic because weâd been struggling with the movie for a long time so a lot of people had been through the process. I mean a lot of â¦JJ Abramsâ¦a lot of people wrote scripts for this thing but again they were conventional type stories. So the Wachowski Brothers went off and they made a 5 minutes kind of pre-vizâa pre-visualization of a race in this movie. And there are actually some shots in that pre-viz that actually made it through to the finished movie. I mean, that first pre-vis actually had images that went right through to the end. But it was a race. It had elements of all 3 races. Elements of Thunderhead, elements of Casa Cristo, elements of the Grand Prix. It was just a race which was shown to the studio in December I think of â06, and we sat in a room at the studio and a bunch of people in the room and the lights went down and they showed this.
Q: And you said before that youâd made a lot of silly action films, but after âThe Matrixâ you walked away realizing that people wanted more, you know you knew what that was. So what was that that you realized post-Matrix that you brought with you into this film?
Joel Silver: Well, Iâll just finish this quick and then Iâll go to that. When the lights went up and everybody stood there quietly in the room and the studio said, âwell, what is it? Is it âRoger Rabbitâ? I mean, what is it? Is it animation, is it live-action?â They said, âlook this is what it is.â So they said, âTake a shotâ, you know. I think that this movieâ¦this is a family movie which Iâd been involved in a few movies that were family but not with the Wachowski Brothers and you know this is the first time they really intended to do something for the familyâfor everybody and they had nieces and nephews and friends and family and they wanted everybody to see their movie. They hadnât been able to do that with everything weâve made up to now. So it was a story about the family. It is a story about, you know, it has really kind of basic family structure, family story, family type values of this movie and itâs also just a movie about a quest and an ambition and dreams and all the things that seem to work in those kinds of movies. Itâs brilliant in its execution but itâs simple in its tale, and I think the end of this movie, I mean cheaters never prosper, you know, be true to your family, stay together and you can prevail, you can win. And I think that those elements are effective and I hope that the audience embraces it and enjoys it.
Q: What was it about the story that made you hold onto it for so long?
Joel Silver: When I first saw âSpeed Racerâ which I was a kid and I wasnât as young as my son is 6 who has since has seen the original show and loves it, I wasnât that age. I was older than that. But I always remembered it being fresh and unique and having you know, a cool quality and again the Brothers have said that it was the first time they ever saw anime, so that was fresh for them. But I remember that I just liked it and when they brought it to me and they said, âDo you want the rights to this thing?â and I said, âYeah, sure letâs take a shotâ which was almost 20 years agoâI think it was â89-90 I did that and we struggled with it. We tried to make it but I just felt it had something about it that was fresh and I never let it go.
Q: I need you to clear up what might be a misconception for me. As a producer who claimed they didnât want to see something go over-budget, you feel more comfortable when youâre making a film in these kinds of circumstancesârelatively controlled studio green screen as opposed to out in the real world where anything could possibly go wrong?
Joel Silver: I mean look, weâ¦this movie as expensive as it was and it wasnât a cheap film, is nowhere near the cost of other films Iâve made or other films that are being made now. I mean, it was controllable. Once we finished there was a 60 day shoot in a big green room. Once you finish that, but then the real work begins in the post-production. But you know it depends. The next movie out is called âRocknRollaâ. I did it with Guy Richie and itâs about
Q: Do you think things could even get crazier from here? I mean this is just the startâ¦
Joel Silver: I was reading last week in USA Today about the Bond filmââThe Quantum of Solaceââand they were shooting in Chile in some desert at 120 degrees, theyâre running on a metal building, the crew was dying, they canât function, they donât know how theyâre going it, they Mayor of the city is mad at them because itâs supposed to be Columbia. Everybodyâs going crazy. I mean they could be shooting in Pinewood. They could be in a big green room. I mean, certain things I can see not wanting to do that, but I mean George Lucas didnât have go to Tatooeen, I mean you donât have toâ¦you can make movies in ways that are different but I think with the technology as exists nowâ¦I mean this movie was all shot digitally. I mean, itâs going to be a matter of years when the film is not a factor anymore. We can still actually shoot on film but you donât have to do shoot on film. Youâd have to finish on film and itâs all going to make it a lot easier to make movies in a way that I mean, you can sit at your kitchen table and make a movie.
Q: Did it come in on budget?
Joel Silver: Oh yeah. Oh sure. There wasnât a lot of things to get in the way of it.
Q: And what was the production in amount of months? Like once it actuallyâ¦
Joel Silver: It was a 60-day shoot.
Joel Silver: Yes. All in
Q: Last summer?
Joel Silver: Yes, last summer. 60-day shoot but most movies like that the director will finish directing and they wrapâ¦cut and they go cut the movie. But on this movie the director keeps directing until last Thursday. Every scene youâre directing because youâreâ¦thereâs a room they put in at the studioâa screening room 1 which has been turned into a VFX visual effects review room and itâs a very comfortable room with a big digital screen. The guyâs sitting back on the couch and all these visual effects from all over the worldâthereâs crews in Australia, thereâs crews for us in France, thereâs crews in Northern California, crews in L.A. and all that stuff is e-mailed in all the quicktimes it all comes in and they look at the effects and there are people all around the room there people with laptops that are plugged in. Theyâre talking because what we do is we put a person on for each vendor. So each vendor has a person who is communicating with that vendor and theyâll go to the next vendor and things come up and the boys will see it and that person is giving notes right back to the vendor and the vendor sees the notes and thereâs another effects review 3 hours later and then more shots come in and they look at those shots. Thatâs a final. Weâve got a final. Yeaâweâve got a final! Another shot comes up and thereâs 2,000 shots.
Q: Thatâs a lot. Is that a record do you think?
Joel Silver: I think so.
Q: So have Larry and Andy come at you with their next quote-unquote idea to make you smile?
Joel Silver: No.
Q: I have to ask you one more thing before I forget.
Joel Silver: Sure.
Q: Since we can never get Larry and Andy, have they started thinking about 3-D filmmaking?
Joel Silver: Yeah, we talked about this being 3-D. We actually discussed this being 3-D. There arenât enough theatres yet right now to make it reallyâ¦it would have taxed us to make this 3-D right now. But maybe if we make a sequel, I mean, they have a story for a sequel and if they make itâ¦
Q: What is it? Any hints on where it might go?
Joel Silver: Well, thereâs things they want to do with him. Thereâs as many episodes of this cartoon so thereâs a lot of ideas, but if we make the sequel maybe that will be in 3-D, but I mean it would have been possible because it was digital to begin with to do it in 3-D and all those shots were rendered so it would have been possible.
Q: Do you think they want to do a sequel or do you think they want to take on another property?
Joel Silver: Well, I mean, I donât know if they will direct the sequel. Maybe somebody else willâmaybe they will, I donât know. This was pretty tough this one to do, but to create this you know, but I donât know if theyâd want to give that to somebody else, I donât know. But theyâ¦the only thing I like to say is they donâtâ¦.the only part they donât engage in is this part right here. They donât like to engage in this and my friend, Tom Cruise, told me a story he went to work on âEyes Wide Shutâ and he said there was Kubrick just sitting there in the directorâs chair. It was Kubrick! And not trying to make a connection between Kubrick and the boys but he didnât want to engage in this part either so that gives him mystique and when everybodyâs hereâall the guys are here and Matthewâs here and Emile and these are fantastic friends of ours, these filmmakers and theyâre great guys. They just donât like to talk about their movies and they did the whole thing for me on the first âMatrixâ. They did all the junkets. All the press tours, they did everything and they hated it. And they said to me, âIf you want us to work with you again, youâve got to promise weâd never do this againâ. And I said, âFine.â What could I say? I couldnât say, âNo, youâve got to do it.â So Iâm happy to try to impart to you their thoughts and their ideas but you know their thoughts and their ideas are on that screen and thatâs what they give you. Thatâs their gift to all of you. I hope you liked it.