Emile Hirsch is one of our favorite up-and-coming young actors. The kid’s got chops, but when it was announced he was going to join the Wachowski’s brothers live-action remake of “Speed Racer,” we became concerned he was throwing away his well-thought-out career in favor of spectacle fluff.
Entertainment Weekly spoke to him recently about “Speed Racer” and a more-personal project, “Into the Wild,” with writer/director Sean Penn that reassures us he’s not completely giving up the itch to work on good projects. Amusingly though, Hirsch told EW the reason, in part, he took the ‘Racer’ role was due to Nirvana’s influence over him.
EW: And is there a monkey in the film?
Hirsch: Oh yeah. Chim-Chim…. One of the biggest reasons that I wanted to do Speed Racer was because it was Kurt Cobain’s favorite cartoon. And he used to slap stickers of Chim-Chim on his electric guitars. I was like ”Alright, done!”
Hey, go easy on him, he’s a kid. He did have wise things to say about Penn. “When I actually got the first call — he didn’t let me know what was going on right away. It was like a secret audition process. I didn’t even know I was really being auditioned. I would just get together with him. He’s one of a kind. And he’s such a natural born leader. He has so much personal integrity and strength and he really demands the best out of you. I really liked having to give my best.”
Kid could be the next Johnny Depp. Let’s hope he doesn’t blow it.
