Ricci a Positive Female Role Model in Speed Racer

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One of the movies that are coming this year that will simply not lessen in my mind until I see it is Speed Racer. Christina Ricci, who will be playing Trixie in the movie, recently described what she feels is a really female positive character.

Already there have been some critics shouting down the trailer, but subsequently shouted down the TV show. Simply put, if you don’t like the TV series, what are you doing talking about the movie? And anyway, I thought that the trailer lived up to the expectations a movie based on a TV series from the late 1960’s.

My excitement at the opportunity to witness this movie made was already peaked when they announced that Christina Ricci would be playing Trixie; a perfect casting choice in my own opinion. And she has recently described much of her character, and how she feels she has portrayed a positive female role model.

"Speed Racer was the most fun ever," she said. "That's another example of a great role model character for girls because she's smart, she's funny and she does all the things the boys do. She kung fu fights, she drives a car, she races and she flies a helicopter. But she has a specific outfit that she wears when she flies the helicopter, and her lipstick always matches something she's wearing. She gets to be everything. She's celebrated as a girl and a woman, but she's also not treated any differently than the male characters are. So, it was so much fun, in that respect. I like being dressed up and I like doing stunts."

That specific look that Ricci refers too also includes a very specific haircut. Ricci wasn’t a fan of it, and asked for a wig, which was denied; she thus relented. "It was the Wachowskis. It's Speed Racer. I can always ask for a wig on the second one. You feel like, if you do it once, then you're justified in saying, 'Okay, I did it, and I don't want to anymore.'"

Apparently a 15 minute reel of the film has also been shown to some, although just who is a mystery. But according to Ricci, the fantastic and trippy thrills of the film also produced a surprising emotion. "A lot of guys were crying at the end of the 15 minute [reel] because there's this real guy-sad thing. Also, every character in it is a very specific, funny character. Mom is always going to have her apron on, and Sparky is going to always be Chaplin-esque and funny, and Mr. Royalton will always be evil. It's just fun. Everything about the movie makes it feel like an event movie, so that's exciting."

Christina Ricci stars alongside Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman, in the film directed by the Wachowski Brothers, Andy and Larry. Expect to see the movie as early as May 8 in Australia, or May 9 in the US.

Joshua S. Hill
2/5/2008
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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