Monday, March 1, 2010

Who Asked for This?: Speedy Gonzales the Movie


When I read this, I almost through my MacBook out the window.

Look out, peeps. Speedy Gonzales is coming.

Speedy Gonzales is taking his folk hero status, incredible speed and signature red kerchief to the big screen, courtesy of New Line. "Garfield" scribes Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen will adapt the classic animated Looney Tunes character into a live-action/CG hybrid feature, with George Lopez attached to voice Speedy.

Lopez, Ann Lopez and Lynnette Ramirez are producing for George Lopez Presents, along with "Ocean's Eleven" producer Jerry Weintraub, Tracy Ryerson and Jill Arthur. New Line execs Michele Weiss and Sam Brown are shepherding for the studio.

But that not it, see this:

the character has often courted criticism that the ethnic characterizations of him and his compatriots (especially lazy cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez) are stereotypically racist and severely outdated.

Aware of this, New Line and the producers plan to update the brand with a modernized sensibility (it takes place in present day) under what Ann Lopez calls George's "Latino seal of approval." (No need to throw fuel on the fire that serves as an immigration debate in this country.)

"We wanted to make sure that it was not the Speedy of the 1950s -- the racist Speedy," Ann Lopez said with a chuckle. "Speedy's going to be a misunderstood boy who comes from a family that works in a very meticulous setting, and he's a little too fast for what they do. He makes a mess of that. So he has to go out in the world to find what he's good at."

"Latino seal of approval", interesting. Well, I curious to see how this movie plans out.

source

2 comments:

David Dust said...

"Arriba arriba ... ándale ándale!!"

YvesPaul said...

Haha, it'd be bearable if Mario Lopez plays Speedy half naked all the time, though that would be career suicide.

The Stuff

My photo
Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.