Much
to Seth Rogen’s chagrin, Matthew Fox nabbed the plum role of the enigma known
as Racer X in the upcoming live action Speed Racer a little while back. Those
even mildly familiar with the property already know that Racer X is merely the
latter incarnation of Rex Racer, who is, of course, Speed’s brother. What isn’t
so widely known is that the Wachowskis intend to get clever with this dual
identity motif by casting somebody who is not Matthew Fox as Rex Racer.
Scott
Porter, who plays Jason Street on the TV version of Friday Night Lights, has
landed the role of Rex Racer. In certain photos, the guy looks – from the nose to the chin – like he could be
a younger sibling of Matthew Fox’s, and that’s pretty much all he needed for
this gig. The way the story works, Rex Racer leaves the Racer family under
mysterious circumstances for parts unknown. He returns later as the older,
slightly more grizzled Racer X, keeping his identity concealed in order to make
it as his own man. While you may think that means Porter will barely be in the
film’s first part, the Wachowskis have indicated we can look forward to
extensive Rex Racer flashbacks where he’s expected to sob a lot, turn Pops
Racer in for drunk driving, and try to save everyone he can. No, really.
Speed
Racer
starts shooting this month in Germany.