More ‘Speed Racer’ Fallout: Emile Hirsch Exits United Talent; “Total Shocker”

COMMENTS (36)

• Looking at his filmography, with Girl Next Door being his break-out role, Lords of Dogtown cementing it, then Into the Wild, Alpha Dog, and his Gus Van Sant pic all have ten times the artistic credibility of Speed Racer and a tenth the (supposed) commercial appeal. Either Emile loved the TV show, or an agency saw a bigger 10%.

  If UTA told their client to “do one for the studio” and this is the one, they absolutely deserve getting dumped for his manager, who seems to have capably led him to a slew of other roles which are much more fitting a “high-profile” under 30 actor. I enjoy Emile’s work and look forward to seeing him in future quality films. What I won’t see him in (any time soon) is Speed Racer.

  Comment by observer — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 4:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Ummm… sure. Everything is relative. They did a great job I suppose. He’s not a complete nobody and he has work. But it doesn’t really change the fact that virtually nobody even knows this guy’s name. Nobody.

  Comment by ckn8 — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 4:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Let’s be honest, Alpha Dog, Lords of Dogton, and Girl Next Door are hardly films to brag about. Hirsch did well (and Dogtown caught Sean Penn’s eye so he cast him in Into the Wild) but it has been Hirsch’s talent that has made him one of the more respected actors of his generation, not the gigs that UTA has been getting him.

  I’d almost argue that Hirsch is a star in spite of those films, not because of them.

  Comment by Kevin — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 4:42pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Well, he didn’t want to do it and they pretty much forced him. And it bombed. He’s probably mortified. Sucks for them.

  Comment by Akimbo — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 5:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Shani is an pretty good covering agent. She is out of her league with a star or a potential star. So is Sam Maydew. Sam and she covered each other on Emile. caa has been up his ass with the help of sean penn for a long time.

  Comment by figures — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 5:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Akimbo–

  How do you know this?

  Comment by Bill — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 5:46pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Shani has excellent taste. CAA had Emile, but lost him to Shani and UTA a long time ago where he developed into who he is today, with Shani as his primary, if not sole, agent. Granted the worldwide blockbuster public may not be familiar with his name yet, but to leave like this is unfortunate. She deserves way more loyalty than this.

  Comment by agencyobserver — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 5:49pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “One of the best-known young leading men of his generation”? He’s given exactly one good performance in exactly one good film.

  Comment by Chilly — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 6:43pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Kevin,

  Do you work in this industry? I know you’re not an agent.

  Emile did not get those gigs because of talent (Their all talented)

  An actor doesn’t just decide he’s talented and meets Sean Penn. (Could you Imagine the line to Sean’s door!!! Puhleeze!

  There is hard work behind all of it.

  His agents got him in the doors and connected the dots.

  Agents are always the easy sacrificial lamb when the movie gets slaughtered.

  Comment by Agent Provocateur — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 6:48pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “Nikki, you said “Look, UTA helped make Hirsch one of the best-known young leading men of his generation in films like Into the Wild (for which he was nominated for several awards), Alpha Dog, and Lords Of Dogtown, The Girl Next Door.”

  That’s laughable. No one saw ANY of those movies, and no one knows who Hirsch is. ”

  Those movies did one thing–they got him the lead in a $100m+ budget film.

  Comment by Sarcastic Cynic — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 8:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “UTA doesn’t deserve this.”

  No, that loving, altruistic, humanitarian agency doesn’t deserve to get dropped by the evil, money-grubbing actor who’s all about the bottom line. Shame on him.

  Comment by Nick — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 8:15pm PDT  Reply to this post

• perfect example of why stars can’t be represented by junior agents. serving up your only hot client in order to curry favor with the studio you cover wears thin quickly when the films bomb.

  Comment by agenting101 — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 8:38pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Im confused. I dont see what is wrong with advising act actor to do the first Wachowski brothers movies since The Matrix. Doesnt seem like bad agenting. Hindsight is 20/20. Think about it when the movie was coming together – and not now after you know the opening grosses.

  Comment by Kevin — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 10:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Agent Provocateur,

  “Emile did not get those gigs because of talent (Their all talented)”

  Well, you have to ignore Sean Penn who said talent was the reason that he wanted Emile Hirsch to play the role in “Into the Wild”. I’m not saying that agents aren’t very important pieces of the puzzle but I don’t think there’s any reason for Emile to think that he shouldn’t try a new direction (especially if UTA did indeed push for him to be in Speed Racer).

  After all, as you said:
  “His agents got him in the doors and connected the dots.

  Agents are always the easy sacrificial lamb when the movie gets slaughtered.”

  Well, if the agents were the ones who got him in the door and connected the dots, shouldn’t they also get the blame when the movie get slaughtered? You seem to be arguing that Emile’s agents deserve all the credit and none of the blame for a career that, aside from “Into the Wild”, isn’t any better than many less talented, less respected young actors.

  Comment by Kevin — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 10:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Oh please agenting101 – pretty JV of you if you think for one minute that Shani Rosenzweig was the only person at UTA who told Emile to do Speed Racer. Junior agent or not, she had the back-up of her senior team members and was not out to curry favor with the studio…

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday May 12, 2008 @ 10:15pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Assuming UTA pushed him to star in this project, and it was not what he wanted, but they got him onboard anyway – I see it like this:

  1. Movie cost 180 million.
  2. Movie earned 20 million.
  3. UTA gets kicked in the nut by Hirsch, who is not happy about being onboard a project that bombed… So he blames the agency.

  And Kevin – Speed Racer is not the first siblings’ movie since the Matrix, V for Vendetta was.

  And seriously – any agency would have rushed to place their client in a movie worth 180 mil. It’s hard to blame UTA for that.

  Comment by Andy — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 2:00am PDT  Reply to this post

• Personally I think Emile’s with the wrong UTA agent (and yes I *had* heard of Emile before…I was fortunate to see him in ‘The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys’, Jodie Foster’s film with Jena Malone and Kieran Culkin and after maybe 5 minutes of watching him I knew the kid had the potential to become a really good actor when he grew up and not just a pretty boy who looks cute on camera and can be manipulated around like a doll or an acton figure. He may not be as famous as some his age but he’s clearly more talented and smart than many of them.

  About a year ago when I heard Emile was getting cast in the lead of an adaptation of ‘Speed Racer’, I was curious as to why he would do such a film. The cartoon really didn’t have anything going for it but its 60s vintage cheesiness. I figured it would have a crappy script, not the kind of thing that a young man who wants to act and be taken seriously as an actor would be into. Maybe it was the idea of working with the Wachowski brothers and the challenge acting in something that would for sure be visually interesting and yet holding his own (or if he was lucky making himself more interesting to watch than the ‘eye candy’). I was hopeful for Emile but prepared for the film to fail.

  Well the film has come out as I expected it to…the visuals are gimmicky, the script thin, the box office takings disappointing. A whole lot of talented actors in ‘Speed Racer’ (Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Emile) I am sure are now questioning their agreement to do such a film.

  But if Emile’s agents urged him to do this, and he still wants to do films that build up respect for his talent (which he clearly has) and be taken seriously, then he needs to ditch agents whose vision for his career don’t serve his own.

  It would be nice to see him paired with say Tracey Jacobs over at UTA (who reps actors like Johnny Depp and Vincent D’Onofrio, actors who people in the industry take seriously) but whoever takes over representing Emile needs to remember that they have to serve him as well as they serve their other clients. Maybe UTA being a packaging agency has too many conflicts of interest to serve someone like Emile especially if he’s interested more in his craft than his bottom line. But that Emile’s reconsidering who represents him is a good thing as far as I am concerned. I wish him the best in finding representation that serves him better.

  Comment by VDOVault — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 6:31am PDT  Reply to this post

• Hey Andy, the Wachowski siblings didn’t direct “V for Vendetta”.

  Comment by mitchell Gross — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 7:34am PDT  Reply to this post

• How is it that the Agent is the scapegoat and the manager gets away unscathed???

  Comment by whatabiz — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 7:46am PDT  Reply to this post

• IMO Emile is a goodlooking, talented (though not especially deep) actor who will never be a leading man in the mainstream Hollywood sense. There is a lacking in the charisma and empathy department, a certain cold and remote quality.

  Comment by Mikey — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 8:50am PDT  Reply to this post

• As big a turd as Speed Racer is, it’s probably already grossed more internationally than anything else this no-name has ever (or will ever) be in.

  I would say that he’ll go back to obscurity but other than being known by a few Hollywood insiders he was never out of obscurity in the first place.

  Comment by flyover — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 8:50am PDT  Reply to this post

• V for Vendetta was directed by the 2nd Unit Director for the Matrix Trilogy. The Wachowski’s just produced the film. And Speed Racer cost 80. Not 180. Iron Man cost 180. So I think Speed Racer will recoup it’s budget.

  Comment by Racer X — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 9:54am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yes Mitchell, my bad. Wachowskis are only credited as writers on V4V, not directors, I assumed incorrectly.

  And about speed racer – I dont understand how it managed to bomb so hard.
  180 million budget – down the drain… With 13 million granted by the German Film Fond towards the project ?
  And to top it off – they suicide-release it against Iron Man ?

  I assume that the earnings from Lego sets, branded products and other gizmos will have a hard time recouping the production costs ?
  But then.. maybe not.

  Comment by Andy — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 9:55am PDT  Reply to this post

• Remember when Shani was married to Sam?

  Comment by Anonymous — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 10:06am PDT  Reply to this post

• I thought Shani and Sam were married…is that no longer so?

  Comment by Anonymous1 — Tuesday May 13, 2008 @ 11:39am PDT  Reply to this post