Emile Hirsch recently talked about being cast in the title role of Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer, the big screen adaptation of the 1960s Japanese Anime television cartoon.

The actor most recently earned critical acclaim as the charismatic Johnny Truelove in the real-life crime drama Alpha Dog, and as skateboarding vanguard Jay Adams in Lords of Dogtown. He next stars as Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild, Sean Penn's screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestseller, which is set for release this September. Click below to watch the interview clip...

Emile Hirsch Interview

Slated for release on May 9, 2008, Speed Racer is being written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, and produced by Joel Silver under his Silver Pictures banner. The film not only marks a reunion for the Wachowski brothers and Silver, who previously worked together on the Matrix movies and V For Vendetta, but is the brothers' first writing/directing collaboration since the Matrix movies.

Based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, the live-action Speed Racer will follow the adventures of the young race car driver Speed in his quest for glory on and off the track in his thundering Mach 5. The film will feature other characters that fans of the show will remember, including Speed's family and his mysterious arch-rival, Racer X. The new high-octane actioner will combine the kind of revolutionary visual effects and cutting-edge storytelling that have become the benchmarks of the Wachowski brothers' films, bringing Speed Racer into the 21st century.