A simple look at the idea of a Wachowski Speed Racer.

There’s a whole bunch of discussion about the Wachowski brothers getting their Speed Racer project greenlit - one of which can be found in one of the always-entertaining comment strings at Hollywood Elsewhere. To me, the whole thing seems kind of obvious.

Larry and Andy Wachowski are a pair of extremely talented filmmakers with a lot going on underneath the surface. Larry Wachowski, of course, is well known as the brother who has undergone some radical life changes in the last handful of years. Whatever our opinion of his psyche and/or his choices, let’s just agree that the guy has some definite issues. He’s clearly struggled with his sense of identity and how he’s supposed to fit into the world and who he was sent here to be, right?

So The Matrix is about a world that is an illusion. What we think of as “normal” is actually a massive fabrication, a disguise created by malevolent forces to shield us from the truth. The only people who realize this truth are super-cool, androgynous superheroes who can fantastically bend reality to their will and who hold the key to destroying the fabricated world with massive firepower and fashion-chic leather wear.

Warner Bros. made a Grand Canyonful of money on this franchise created by a pair of brothers, one of whom clearly pulled it from the painful depths of an internalized struggle.

Now the pair are considering the adaptation of a movie property in which a pair of brothers are at odds with each other. One of them has a secret - a big secret - but instead of revealing that secret to his brother, he hides behind a mask and costume. He watches over and protects his brother, at the expense of his own safety, just to conceal his true self. The brother who doesn’t know or understand the truth believes that the disguised brother is his enemy, and they hold the key to destroying this illusion by fantastically bending reality with tricked-out, jumping cars and a mischievous-but-well-meaning monkey.

The question isn’t really why Warner Bros. greenlit this; it’s what exactly took them so long.