Movies

LAS VEGAS — Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci are better known for smaller independent movies than summer blockbusters.

Yet they could not pass up the chance to work with Larry and Andy Wachowski on the brothers' first writing-directing effort after The Matrix trilogy.

After the lesbian thriller Bound and their science-fiction franchise, all dark R-rated affairs, the Wachowskis have gone the family route with the PG-rated Speed Racer, a live-action and computer-animated update of the TV cartoon series.

Hirsch, 23, and Ricci, 28, chatted with The Associated Press at March's ShoWest theater-owners convention, where distributor Warner Bros. showed off footage of Speed Racer. The movie opens Friday.

AP: Given the more serious films the two of you often do, a big summer action movie doesn't seem like an obvious choice.

Ricci: But this is the coolest, because it's the Wachowski brothers, and also, it's not your average cheesy big blockbuster. It's really awesome.

Hirsch: There's something just so wonderfully rebellious about the idea of being like some serious actor and having to just do those kind of movies, where I wanted to spit on the idea and just do something so wrong. But it's so right.

AP: What was the most fun thing about Speed Racer?

Hirsch: There was this chimpanzee on the set. "Fun" may not be the proper word for it, but he was the part that just directed all my attention to it. I loved the chimpanzee. We all did.

Ricci: I didn't. In my first shot in the movie, he leapt over and grabbed my left breast with the kind of grip that only an animal or a very young, angry child can have. And I have to like, hang there saying, "Help," quietly until anyone noticed and got him off ... .

AP: Were you surprised to learn the Wachowskis were doing such a family-friendly film?

Ricci: I wasn't, because I knew they wanted to make a kids movie.

Hirsch: What the Wachowskis originally did when they stunned the world with The Matrix was they did the unexpected, and they gave people things they hadn't seen before. But you would really have to go to a completely different genre, because if you approached an R-rated kind of mind-bending action drama, it would always have the echo of The Matrix.

AP: What do you drive now?

Ricci: I won't say. It's bad for the environment.

AP: Emile, car enthusiast?

Hirsch: Only the new-technology cars that are absolutely good for the environment. I have a Toyota Prius. I don't have an interest in any car that isn't good for the environment.

Ricci: See, I got my three-year lease on my car before I saw the Al Gore movie (An Inconvenient Truth), then immediately went, "Oh, no." So I'm waiting for my three-year lease to be up, and I'm going to get a green car. I feel really bad about my car.

Hirsch: What, do you have like a clown car?

Ricci: No, I have a really big sedan like some old, fat Italian grandfather would have. I think it's hilariously funny, but it's not worth the humor. Not a lot of people get the joke, so it's not worth abusing the earth for it.