devilshalo

George Lopez to voice Speedy Gonzales in film
Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:47am EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Speedy Gonzales is taking his folk-hero status, incredible speed and signature red kerchief to the big screen, with help from George Lopez.

The comedian is attached to provide the voice of the fastest mouse in all Mexico for a politically correct live-action/CG hybrid feature set up at New Line Cinema.

The Looney Tunes character debuted in the 1950s as a regular nemesis of Sylvester the Cat. A 1955 short about the tiny hero, "Speedy Gonzales," won the Academy Award for best short subject, (cartoon). Pat Boone even released a hit song about the famous mouse in 1962.



Over the years, Speedy appeared in the live-action/animation features "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Space Jam" and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." But 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of him and his compatriots (especially lazy cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez) are stereotypically racist and severely outdated.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.

"We wanted to make sure that it was not the Speedy of the 1950s -- the racist Speedy," said the comedian's wife Ann Lopez, who will serve alongside him as a producer. "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."

That path becomes clearer once Speedy befriends a gun-shy race-car driver.

"Garfield" scribes Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen will write the script.

Lopez hosts "Lopez Tonight" on TBS and appears in New Line's ensemble hit "Valentine's Day," which has grossed $158 million worldwide after two weekends. He also recently starred in "The Spy Next Door" and provided a voice for "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

UAIOE

Seriously?

April 1st hit early this year.

foofighters7

Funny... I thought George Lopez was just a racist stereotype as well?

Oh, and truly a terrible idea as well.

UAIOE

I guess I'm way out of touch.

I always took his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez to be the opposite of Speedy simply for comedy and as setup for conflict.

How many cartoons can you watch where the bad guy always gets his ass outrun by Speedy?

Dr. DVD

If they want to make a politically correct Speedy Gonzales movie (or one that appears as such), then they'll have a hard time doing it and keeping all of his trademarks. In short, it can't be done!

Supermallet

Speedy Gonzales was always one of the less interesting Looney Tunes characters, and George Lopez is thoroughly unfunny.

Meglos

The words "George Lopez" and "politically correct live-action/CG hybrid" = box office poison.

Al Padrino

What good is Speedy Gonzales if he isn't oozing racial stereotypes?

foofighters7

Yeah, reminds me of the McGruber movie. WHY?

And I was completely in the dark for years that Lopez was a "comedian"! I am not joking at all. I thought he was just a crappy actor. I had no clue he was a "comedian".

Frekin Terrible, unfunny TERRIBLE!

kstublen

You forgot "From the Writers who brought you...Garfield"

DonnachaOne

Beverly Hills Chihuahua made one hundred and forty-nine million dollars. Your definition of "poison" is incorrect.

DRG

What's next? Maybe Elmer Fudd will become "the inspiring tale of a man overcoming a speech impediment, where Elmer is no longer a hunter but instead a pet store owner". Or Pepé Le Pew can be "a tale promoting diversity, where an outsider struggles to find acceptance (and love) in a world that initially refuses to accept his differences."

Drexl

They'd never do a Yosemite Sam movie.

DonnachaOne

No, but they'd elect him.

Sean O'Hara

They should do a Pepe LePew movie. At least then they could keep the original stereotypes and no one would care. (Well, the French, but they don't count.)

UAIOE

Speedy isn't one of the better characters. It isn't that the cartoons were racist per se, they just weren't terribly interesting.

And George's sitcom had moments of comedy, but those were delivered by the Cuban father in law.

terrible chong

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Troy Stiffler

Aye yey yey. I ate a big bean burrito for lunch and I need to take a nap. Si, si, si.

Drav3n

Tracy Morgan shares his thoughts on this movie lol

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Panda Phil

Oh thank god those poor Mexicans have a white person (just assuming) in Hollywood to be offended on their behalf


Anyway, I'll just leave this here.



Yes maybe I am a racist bastard, but this bit has always made me lmao.

Trevor

He was perhaps my least favorite WB character, but I'm a sucker for anything animated or quasi-animated, so I'm in for at least a rental.

islandclaws

This sounds like all kinds of bad... I want my racist cartoon live-action hybrid CGI films to be politically INcorrect!

Jason

Solid Snake

Ok. I'm Mexican and in no way did my cousins and family members in Mexico think it wasn't funny. They and I enjoy the fuck out of Speedy as he was. The humor of Speedy to us is that the humor for him was very regional to us. A lot of us totally understood historically where Speedy could be making a nod too. I dunno. I've never had an issue w/ Speedy.

UAIOE

I just don't know how anyone can keep a straight face trying to sell this revised Speedy.

"He's too fast for what they do."

He's fast so he can outrun the bad guys and steal food (which is what mice do). What do they do in this 2010 update, make Faberge eggs?