Speed Racer may attract a predominately male audience but Susan Sarandon, the Academy Award-winning actress who plays ‘Mom Racer’ in the action movie, thinks the film has a lot of heart, and a lot to offer females of all ages. “It’s been surprising how much the girls have liked it. I mean I think Trixie [played by Christina Ricci] is one of the reasons. She’s a very feisty little girl and she grows up to be a kick-ass kind of young woman who solves a problem and who seems smart and at the same time is very girlie,” explained Sarandon. “So it’s a kind of interesting combination. She’s dressed in pink and but she flies a helicopter and she fights when, you know, the guys are fighting. She does the kung fu stuff. And when she’s little she stands up for him, so she’s a very, very strong character.”
While all of the Racer family – Mom, Pops (John Goodman), Speed (Emile Hirsch), Rex (Scott Porter) and Spritle (Paulie Litt) – live and breathe racing, Mom is really more into cooking pancakes, keeping the house in order, and taking care of her family’s emotional needs. Sarandon was pleased with the way her character was portrayed as the glue that holds the family together. “There’s something about the way the art of the way this movie unfolds and the family values that it has. The mom figure is very important to the family. And at the same time she also helps build the car, she keeps the family together and she’s kind of the emotional thunder. So the women are represented very well.”
“My job in the movie to be kind of the heart of the movie in [that] it’s a very tight family and they stand up for each other, but the men are sometimes men are not emotionally as accessible or comfortable with their emotion,” explained Sarandon. “And so it’s my job to make sure that the kids know that, you know, even though the father doesn’t show it that he is proud and that I am proud. [She] has a great scene where she talks about how what he does is art. It’s not about being successful or being huge, it’s about doing what you want to do. And how when she watches and even though it really frightens her, it’s much more than commerce. I think that’s an interesting message for kids to have today.”
Speed Racer focuses on the Racer family’s fight against big corporations that play dirty. Sarandon found that aspect of the plot intriguing and it was one of the reasons she said yes to playing Mom Racer. “I really liked that when the Wachowskis approached me, I liked the fact that they were talking about this family that doesn’t sell out in order to be very rich and very famous. [They] want their independence and [don’t] buckle to the corruption of the conglomerate that is fixing sports.”
Another reason Sarandon wanted to be involved in Speed Racer was because of the visual design of the movie. “The beauty of it is, I mean it’s quite a startling film to watch,” said Sarandon. “It unfolds with cutting edge technology and it’s just beautiful. Its three-dimensional, four-dimensional and two-dimensional all mixed in together.”
“This movie, one of the reasons I did it because it’s a small part but it’s really groundbreaking in terms of the way it looks and the way it unfolds. But it’s about… They have a very strong sense of family, the Wachowskis, and are very, very close. And so when they called me and they talked about how the family is standing up to these conglomerates and how they don’t sell out and how they encourage, they let Speed make his own decision, but he decides not to go with the sure thing, not to go with the big backing and to stay pure and to have principle. They stand behind him and they take on [the big companies],” said Sarandon. “It’s one of those stories that you really root for the family.”
