411 Movies Interview: Christian Oliver of Speed Racer

Posted by Tony Farinella on 04.29.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Speed Racer's arch nemesis, Snake Oiler, for an exclusive interview!

Speed Racer is shaping up to be one of the biggest movies of 2008. With an all-star cast and an amazing visual style, it's sure to catch on with moviegoers all across the world. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christian Oliver, who plays Snake Oiler in the film, and we talked about this very unique film and what fans can expect from it. Speed Race hits theaters on May 9th.


TONY: As an actor, what it's like to be a part of such a massive project with so much hype surrounding it?

Christian Oliver: Well, the hype and the hysteria hasn't quite gotten to me. Obviously, it has such a fan base ... kids growing up on it, the cartoon. So, for me, I never even heard of Speed Racer before I got involved with the project, and it was just amazing to be swept away by that hype and that hysteria. And I became part of that and became so excited about it, which was kind of fun to see it from a clean, fresh start and to see it from watching old DVDs and getting all into it and doing the research and seeing Snake Oiler for the first time the way it was portrayed in the cartoon and seeing how Snake Oiler has taken on its own life and how much he became a life and what I had in mind and what he ended up being. To be part of such an amazing ensemble, not only the cast, but, also, the international crew, and the way it was shot, it was just insane. And it was quite phenomenal to be a part of that. And being in Germany and shooting it there over months and months, all on green screen, and kind of imagining what it could be like, and then seeing what it's going to be like. And I still haven't seen the whole thing, so it's still an on-going process, but I'm still very excited. And I'm very happy that I got a chance to be a part of it.

TONY: Did you add any unique traits or characteristics to Snake Oiler?

Christian Oliver: (laughs) Wait and see, that's all I have to say. With a name like Snake Oiler, basically you can't do anything wrong as long as you go for it, and that was pretty much the mentality. I just went for it, and I had tremendous fun exploring this passionate race-car driver who will do anything to be the best and to go the distance and to get to race in The Grand Prix. That's his life. I remember the first time I put my costume on, I was like, "Oh, my god," and I felt a little more of Snake Oiler, because it was all snakeskin and snake leather and big snake buckles. And it was a lot of fun putting that together with the costume department, because it was like, "Let's do this, let's do that." And, suddenly, I was half way there. With hair and make-up, it was like, "Okay, let's do this. No, let's do that." I think he's a cross of Freddy Mercury meets Prince meets Elvis. So he's a rock star, in my opinion. He's a total rock star, and I loved playing him. It was just amazing, and it took on a life of its own. With those two guys directing, anything is possible, and it's amazing what a crazy, genius mind they have on their own. And it was just so much fun being able to play with that.

TONY: What did you learn from the other actors on this film? I mean, Speed Racer has an amazing cast.

Christian Oliver: Well, the amazing thing is I didn't get to work with any of them. (laughs) I did, I did. I had a couple scenes where we actually had to interact, which was fun. But, literally, Emile is such a great guy and we got to hang out and saw each other every day, but I never was in front of the camera with him. I'm racing against him the whole time and we interact and all this stuff and have dialogue, but he did his thing on green screen and I did my thing. And then we'd go to the hotel and exchange our crazy stories of the day. Same thing goes for John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox. It was very refreshing that people with such resumes and such amazing careers, how excited and how much passion they had about this project. I think it was kind of infectious for everybody to see how everybody was involved and everybody got involved and everybody felt special about what was happening.

TONY: You mentioned earlier how you haven't seen the finished product yet, but if you had to guess, how do you think the film is going to come together?

Christian Oliver: (laughs) I have a pretty good guess. I saw fifteen minutes, and it's an incredible ride. I doubt anybody is going to be .... I mean, maybe, but I feel it's almost impossible that people are gonna be let down. You might have expectations, but the brothers are definitely gonna take it further than you ever expected. It's visually something that I've never seen before, and it's a fun and entertaining ride. And it has heart and it has soul. And I can't wait to see the finished product. And the finished product is not even done yet, so it's an on-going process. They're still working on it every day, and there are so many creative people working on it. It's amazing.

TONY: What was it like working in front of the green scene? Do you just have to go for it and be in the moment? I'm sure it allows you to use your imagination a lot.

Christian Oliver: I love it. And the way you described it was exactly the way it was for me. A lot of people find it limiting, because you're by yourself and it's just a green screen, but, like you said, it's an imaginative process. You really have to play Cowboys and Indians the way you used to play Cowboys and Indians. Kids have such great visions and they're so creative, so this was, for me, a first, working on green screen, and a very freeing experience. You're very inhibited at the beginning, because you have a couple hundred people standing around, and you are screaming at the top of your lungs and acting like a crazy fool all day long and not interacting with anybody. So that alone is quite challenging. But if you leave your ego at home and check it at the door, it's a very freeing and amazing experience, because, literally, you have to go for it. You can't play it safe, and that's what I loved about this experience. There was nothing safe about this. It was like, "Go out there and dare to fail gloriously." You have to go, and you have to push it 100 percent and go over the top and bring it back. The bigger, the better, and you just push it and push it. And it was fun. It was really exhausting, too. I came home, and I was like, "Oh, my god, I'm beat." It's definitely a different kind of movie making and I would prefer working with actors and working off actors, because it's very much a collaborative effort, but, in that case, it was amazing to be a part of making it happen and putting the whole puzzle together. And I think the brothers are amazing how they guided us through that. It was so much fun to work with them, and I've never had so much fun on set. Just letting go of all your egos and just playing like kids.


TONY: Let's talk a little bit about Ready Or Not, which is a film that you're heavily involved in. You're an actor in the film, a writer, and also a producer. What was it about the topic of weddings that really spoke to you?

Christian Oliver: It's a coming of age story, and it's a buddy comedy about life and being with the right woman for the rest of your life. It's about love and friendship and relationships. And it's exactly the stuff that my friends are going through and the director went through, and we went through it together. He's one of my best friends, and we were single at the time and went through relationships during the shooting and got single again. We went through a bunch of relationships during that movie, and it's amazing. It's not a guy's film, per se. I mean, it's interesting for girls. And girls love reading it and girls that have seen it, they loved it, because it's kind of like guys watching Sex and the City. You don't want to admit that you like it, but you want to know what the girls are talking about. It's a fun movie, and I'm very happy that it turned out the way it turned out. And it was a long road to make it and to raise the money for it and to find financing, and now we're at the stage where we try to find a home for it so people can see it. We're trying to sell it right now and trying to find the home that it deserves. It's been a big learning experience for me to be behind the camera in the production world, because you learn so much about how hard it is to really make a movie ... let alone to make a good movie. It's quite a team effort, and that's the beauty of it.

TONY: How would you describe the tone of the film?

Christian Oliver: It's a buddy comedy, road trip, and it's not like one of those over-the-top slapstick movies, but it definitely has its elements of that. And it definitely has some heart and true feelings about true love and true friendship. It's a ride that I think any guy can definitely relate to, and I think women, too, because, at the end of the day, life doesn't end when you get married ...life starts when you get married. It's a lot of different views and a lot of different opinions on that subject.

TONY: What was it like wearing so many different hats on set? How did you balance everything? I mean, you had to worry about money, acting, and so many other aspects of filmmaking.

Christian Oliver: Yeah, that's good. You should have told me that before I got into it. (laughs) It's a fine line that you have to walk, and, at one point, you really have to give the director the creative freedom. But, also, it's a business, and you want to make sure that your investors get their money back. You really have a commitment, and it's not just like a little game, so you really have to fulfill your commitments. And to wear that hat wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I had great people. I worked with people that I trust, friends of mine, and they really made it easy for me. And after the first week, we had a little sit down, and they were like, "OK, Christian, shut up, do your acting, and we'll do the rest." And that was very, very important and good. And I'm glad, because when I do something, I do it 100 percent, and I want to be involved in everything, but you can't. You have to trust. You keep learning the more you are in this business that it's such a collaborative effort and everybody has their say and their creative input.

TONY: How have you adjusted to life in the US? Do you feel at home?

Christian Oliver: Oh, I think I'm more American than lots of Americans are. (laughs) I consider myself American, and I love this country and got used to this country as an exchange student in North Carolina when I was seventeen. And I fell in love with this country and fell in love with the American dream, and, quite frankly, I still believe in the American Dream. And I think it's beautiful to see the American Dream is still alive, and sometimes Americans need to believe more in the American Dream, because the foreign students do, for sure. I'm quite adjusted, and I'm happy to be able to live in both worlds. I'm very much happy here and love it here.

TONY: In some ways, have you been able to have your cake and eat it too? What I mean by that is you're living in America, but you're also able to film a lot of movies in Germany and also work on films like The Good German.

Christian Oliver: Literally, we're talking over ten years until this finally happened, so I finally get to eat the cake, but I've been cooking that cake for a long time. (laughs) I've been baking it for a long time, so, trust me, it's about time that I get to eat a little bit of that cake. There's plenty of more room for lots of more cake, so I'm excited that finally I was able to put those worlds together. I've been able to work here and I've been able to work in Germany and lots of different parts of the world, which is amazing. That's the beauty about this business. And I'm very happy that I was able to put those worlds together, and, like you said, The Good German, a movie that takes place in Berlin but was shot at the backlot of Universal. It was a step closer to what it could be like, but, now, actually shooting in Berlin was amazing. I'd like to shoot in China, I'd like to shoot in India. That's the beauty about this business: There are a lot of great stories that need to be told, and they can only be told in different countries. Ready Or Not was shot in Mexico and Vegas and Los Angeles.


TONY: I remember when you were working on The Good German, you said in a couple of interviews that you weren't sure how people were going to respond to the film. When the film finally came out, it received a lot of mixed reviews. People either enjoyed the film, or they were confused by it. Do you think the film will find an audience one day?

Christian Oliver: Well, I think it has, for sure. Just last night I was at a premiere, and somebody was like, "Oh, my god, I loved that movie. It was one of my favorite movies." And you're like, "Wow." So it definitely found its audience, and it's unfortunate that it didn't find a wider audience. I think it had a great chance of becoming a movie that could have found a wider audience. You can always point fingers later and it's always easy to say it wasn't marketed right, it wasn't this, it wasn't that, but I think, like you said, people will go back and be like, "I've never seen this, but I've heard about it. Oh, it has George Clooney? Steven Soderbergh? Cate Blanchett? Oh, I should see this." And, like you said, there was fifty percent that got it, and I don't know if the other fifty percent didn't get it or if they didn't want to get it, because it was so different and so special.

TONY: Finally, do you ever want to direct your own film in the future?

Christian Oliver: Wow. Eventually, I'd love to, but right now I feel very fortunate to be able to work with such great directors that I have, and I want to keep exploring directors. I love working with directors, but I wouldn't mind. If the right time and the right place, the right story with the right people, I would love to do that, and I could see myself doing that. But, right now, I'd like to work with some more of the great directors that I've been working with.

TONY: Thanks so much for your time. It was great talking to you.

Christian Oliver:: Hopefully we'll get to do it again! Thank you!