Matthew Fox admits he didn’t start watching the old Speed Racer episodes until he was hired on to star in the new live action film adaptation of the series. Little did he know, he was signing on to play the blockbuster’s biggest badass, Racer X, the only driver fast enough to beat Speed on the race track. Hollywood.com caught up with Fox to find out more about his latest project.
Hollywood.com: When you are sitting in a car simulator in front of a green screen wearing all leather, a mask and goggles you’ve gotta have a lot of faith in the directors.
Matthew Fox: I did through the entire process have complete and utter faith in the Wachowskis making me look good [laughs] and I really did. So, yeah, there were moments where you’re like, wow, this is pretty intense. I honestly going into it, this is one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever done. There are so many ways that you [being] wrapped in a leather suit can be very bad [laughs].[PAGEBREAK]
HW: What did your kids think? Did they see you in the costume?
MF: They came up to visit [the set] and we really wanted them to see the thing in its full – so they were sitting on the set, this huge room, green screens everywhere, and all this technology, computers and stuff, and I’ll never forget, I walked in and I had the full gear on and they both turned and did like this double-take and went like, “Daddy?” And I’m pretty convinced that if I’d done my voice they would have both just like–so I just went down to them, and I’m like [whispers], “Yeah it’s me, it’s me, don’t worry, it’s just me.” And I walked on set to do a scene, and my little boy watched me walk off and he turned to my wife, and he goes, “I want to be Racer X on Halloween next year.”
HW: Have your kids seen your action figure?
MF: Yes, I think my little boy might…have been the first little boy to have a Racer X action figure. I did the Mattel Toy thing in New York and did a little piece while I was there promoting Vantage Point and they gave me one and I took it home. It was the first thing that he got. Then like a week later or 10 days later a whole box of stuff came. He’s just been completely…he is so excited about this movie opening up, he cannot wait. He can’t wait. He’s so into it. I’m pretty cool in his eyes right now, which is pretty great.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: If you weren’t familiar with the show, at what point did someone tell you that Racer X was actually the coolest character in the whole thing? Bands have named records after the guy.
MF: Really? That’s really cool. My best friend, who was the hugest Speed Racer fan in the world, and we were having dinner together with some people that I work with when we heard that Larry and Andy wanted to meet me on this project, and he just flipped, and he’s pretty discerning in the kind of things that he would like, and so I knew watching him get that excited that there had to be something really, really cool.
HW: Did you enjoy having the chance to use your martial arts training?
MF: I did, very much. That part of the shooting was really rewarding to me. I did all the stunts in the movie myself which I’m proud of. [PAGEBREAK]
HW: Was it difficult to perform the fight scenes in all that gear? How much did it weigh?
MF: It’s not that heavy. It’s just the heat was really intense and having your head covered and the lenses would fog up really quickly which led to a few misjudges on my part [laughs] which led to a couple of stunt guys knocked on their asses.
HW: How was the gimbal simulator?
MF: The gimbal was really intense…As an actor, you didn’t have to do anything other than create the input [for the scene], but then react to what the gimbal was doing. It was amazing. It made everything a lot easier. On X’s part, he has to be like the harbinger of boom. He has to be kicking some hard butt. He’s got to be doing big moves so I was getting thrown up against the door really intensely to the point where my shoulder was pretty sore and bruised and that kind of thing, but I really had a good time doing it. It was fun.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: Some of your cast mates in Lost have gotten in trouble for speeding a little bit. Were you ever a speeder?
MF: Yeah, I enjoy driving fast. I’ve been lucky to not have…you know that’s the running joke over there, is if you get pulled over by the cops, you’re pretty much killed off the show [laughs]. I just have a driver.
HW: What do you drive?
MF: A little Acura that I zip around the island on.[PAGEBREAK]
HW: What kind of car would you pick if you could have anything? What’s your dream car?
MF: I build hot rods so I’m taking a 1950 Mercury coupe and turning it into a hot rod. I enjoy the 50’s styling which I thought was really cool and then putting all the new, sort of modern technology into it is really fun.
HW: Any good road rage stories of your own?
MF: No. I’ve always really enjoyed driving. I grew up in Wyoming where the roads are really open. There’s not a lot of traffic and there are speed limits but there’s not a lot of enforcement of those speed limits. It’s always been the sense of freedom in it. I enjoy that. I actually recently got the chance to drive some Porsches on the Willow Springs track because I was doing this story for Speed Racer. I got some instruction from the Penske Porsche LMP2 driver, Patrick Long, who is just awesome. It was two days and it was really one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. I really enjoyed it.
