May12
Speed Racer Bombs
Posted at 12:11 PM | Permalink
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Comments (11)
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Although I’m certainly not above gloating about a major Hollywood flop for no other reason than the sheer pleasure of it, there’s actually a bit of history to this one, since PETA contacted the Wachowski Brothers in July of last year about reports that a chimpanzee used on the set of Speed Racer had bitten one of the actors. The issue here is that, almost invariably, great apes used in film are beaten and abused to make them perform (hence, the occasional biting), then cast aside at filthy roadside zoos (or worse) once they’ve outlived their usefulness--no older than age 8! Angelica Huston recently filmed a great PSA for us on this issue, which you can watch here.
I’m willing to concede the remote possibility that there were some other factors that contributed to Speed Racer’s downfall in addition to the bad publicity they got from PETA (like, it could just be a lousy movie), so let’s just call this karma, and we’ll hope the movie’s producers can find a formula in future that doesn’t involve either a) abusing monkeys, or b) making sucky movies. Good luck next time, guys.
TAGGED:
chimpanzee monkey business speed racer
Comments
Such a brilliant video - along with the Stewart fur video. Great work, ladies!
Why do these PSAs have to be so hidden? I would love to see these put on primetime network. If I had a million bucks I would buy a spot on tv for these gems.
Posted by: Maya, CVT | May 12, 2008 12:43 PM
ps It's outrageous that the USDA allows this abuse and then just gives out citations. The practice of using any animal in this way should be banned.
Posted by: Maya, CVT | May 12, 2008 12:45 PM
The Wachowski Brothers are behind this?! Boy, have they fallen!
Their first film, Bound, remains one of the great noir crime thrillers. The Matrix was less impressive, and the Matrix sequels even less. Now they've fallen to making "Speed Racer"?? WTF?
This must be the biggest Hollywood plummet since John Travolta was relegated to a supporting role in those talking baby films.
Posted by: Bill | May 12, 2008 06:33 PM
I'm boycotting Speed Racer all the way from India! I loved the animation version of Speed Racer, but hurting chimp(s) to make this movie is the dirtiest thing in the world. . .
Posted by: Niranjan | May 12, 2008 07:35 PM
I can tell you first hand that the chimp Kenzie was consistently harmed during the movie speed racer because I know Mike Casey, owner of Kenzie, personally and spoke with and/or text him 100s of times during his stay in Germany while filming. He would share with me when Kenzie was good or bad for the day and his favorite thing to do is hit Kenzie on the head with his class ring. Mike has spent a lot of time at my home in Montana with Kenzie and he would anger me with the way he treated Kenzie just because he was, well, being a chimp!!
Posted by: Jeanne Rizzotto | May 13, 2008 02:02 PM
Yeah, karma's a bitch, huh?
lol
Glad this happened for the chimp's sake...
Posted by: Tamara | May 13, 2008 05:49 PM
NO ANIMALS IN ENTERTAINMENT PLEASE!
I urge everyone here to look at this link. http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/cruelcamera/index.html
This film is amazing.
It is a travesty to destroy an animals life for the sake of "entertainment".
Posted by: Annalena | May 13, 2008 08:12 PM
Good! I'm glad it bombed. Couldn't have happened to more deserving people. Well on 2nd thought, there's alot of other people who could take a hit for their treatment of animals, too.
Posted by: lynda downie | May 14, 2008 01:39 AM
Thanks for the great link, Annalena—some very eye-opening and disturbing information there.
Posted by: Mike Quinoa | May 14, 2008 09:49 AM
Jeanne
Why are you even friends with this Casey guy? He sounds like a real a$%hole. Why don't you speak up and tell him it's not right to treat Kenzie so abusively.
Posted by: ML | May 14, 2008 02:46 PM
I was going to see speed racer but when I had found out that they had used a live chimp, I saw different movie instead. PETA did a good job at getting out the message. I'm glad the movie bombed. Using animals in live entertainment stinks. I wish it would stop
Posted by: H.H | May 14, 2008 11:10 PM