At the Los Angeles press junket for the Columbia Pictures action thriller Vantage Point, Matthew Fox shared some news on his other acting assignments – Speed Racer and Lost. The critically acclaimed TV series Lost has propelled Fox to a new level of fame, and now his movie career is taking off as well. A starring role in Speed Racer can only help kick up his star level a notch or two. But Fox doesn’t take on roles as a means to an end.
“I fall in love with the idea of being a part of them on an individual basis,” explained Fox. “I can tell you I am incredibly excited about Speed Racer. It was three and a half months in Berlin that was working with the Wachowskis and a cast that was like a family, because we're playing a family. It was an extraordinarily amazing experience for me. I really, really loved it. The movie is going to be just fantastic.”
Fox’s seen a batch of footage and vows audiences are in for something new and unique with the Wachowskis’ big screen version of Speed Racer. “Larry and Andy actually showed me 25 minutes of the movie as we were in Berlin. It's like nothing you've ever seen. It's so new and different and beautiful. It's just cool. It's really, really cool.”
The Matrix guys are not only interesting filmmakers, but decent human beings according to Fox. “[They’re] very quiet but very hyper-intelligent and really love what they're doing. I just love them - really good people.”
Fox says the Wachowski brothers paid close attention to the source material and fans of the anime show will be able to see many elements of the original Speed Racer series in the film version. “They love the original source material. They grew up on it and they were huge fans, so there will be much homage paid to that,” said Fox. “There's many, many things that will be in the movie but then, they're also creating an entire new world that only exists in the world of Speed Racer. It's unbelievable what it's going to look like and how it's going to transition, how it's edited. I mean, traditional editing is pretty much just completely blown away here. It's a whole new movement, transition.”
Asked if it’s intense or kitschy, Fox replied, “It's got both. Absolutely. It's going to be very, very funny. Then there will also be… I mean, certainly my character, Racer X, is the sort of darkness of mystery. He's this masked crusader. I just had so much fun with it. It's just awesome. My little boy, literally every day asks me when this movie's coming out.”
Fox’s son is 6 and can’t wait to see his dad in Speed Racer. It’s a PG film and Fox believes it’ll be okay for kids to watch. “He saw the trailer and I showed him the trailer and he asked me to play it over and over again until I just had to say, ‘I'm not going to play it again!’ He would've asked me to play it 50 times,” laughed Fox. “And he came to the set in Berlin and he saw me in Racer X. I watched on set and he turned to my wife and he goes, ‘I want to be Racer X for Halloween next year.’"
As for Fox’s other big time-consuming project, Lost, the actor who plays Dr Jack Shephard - one of the leaders of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors – believes it was right for the network to air the episodes of Lost shot prior to the Writers Guild of America strike. Writer/producer/creator Damon Lindelof wasn’t happy with the decision to air those episodes, however Fox felt it was necessary in order to keep Lost’s dedicated fans happy. “I think the audience has waited a hell of a long time for new chapters of Lost and I think it was important that we give them some episodes that we had done,” explained Fox. “I know it's frustrating for Damon to really start… For three years, he didn't know how long the show was going to go. Then he really was instrumental in making sure that there was an end date. He got that, and now he finally had the opportunity to let the story rip and he only got to let it rip for eight. Suddenly he couldn't do it anymore. I know that's been frustrating for him, but the audience has also been waiting for a new episode since last May. I think what the show did on its premiere and the kind of reviews that it got, people definitely were wanting to see episodes of Lost.”
“I absolutely would watch it if I weren't on it,” said Fox about the Lost phenomenon. “I think it's, in my opinion, one of the best things on television. I think that, number one, I don't think it has really a cultural identity so I think it translates around the world really, really well because it feels not like a show that's an American show or any other. It doesn't have a specific signature on it. It feels like a show about all of us. I think it's dealing with philosophical themes that are about all of us. What is the true nature of man? Do we tend towards compassion or towards self preservation when the chips are down? I think just on a really simple fundamental level, when you watch an episode of Lost, you just really cannot wait to find out what's going to happen next. I'm not knocking lawyer shows and doctor shows and cop shows, but those shows, even though there's a new case each week, you sort of know what to expect. This is a show about a plane crash on an island in the South Pacific and it's going to have a really intense epic arcing, and every episode is eventually leading you to a final conclusion. That's not really something that's been done before.”
