Emile as Speed Racer Credit: Warner Bros.

Like Johnny Depp, Emile Hirsch is a heartthrob building his career on his acting chops rather than a certain "cuteness" factor or Hollywood party boy vibe. Like Depp, he digs wearing hats and anti-trendy clothes. For our chat at the Long Beach Grand Prix for Emile's new adrenalin-rush film Speed Racer, the actor popped into our interview suite wearing a brown, Indie-Jones-style fedora, shorts and a dark blue hoodie with the word "Milk" on it (Emile is playing a gay rights activist in the movie about a real-life San Francisco city supervisor named Harvey Milk). Biggest shocker was the star's long more light brown hair after seeing him in Speed Racer's short, black, Elvis-ish hair helmet.

We'd spoken to this talented young actor before about his work as a skateboarder in Lords of Dogtown and a doomed adventurer in Into the Wild but "Speed" is quite a departure for Emile. Hey, he was a huge fan of the TV cartoon series as a kid and didn't want to pass up the chance to take that to a personal level especially since he's also a "Matrix" fan and wanted to work with the "out there" Wachowski Brothers. Start your engines and get ready to hit the track with Speed Racer...

TeenHollywood: Did you watch the animated TV series in preparation?