Enzo Ferrari hits the big screen in epic new movie
Upcoming Ferrari film focuses on turbulent 1957 and recreates the tragic final Mille Miglia
A new movie about Enzo Ferrari and his ‘terrible joys’ is finally set for release around Christmas after more than 30 years in gestation.
Titled simply ‘Ferrari’, the film is centred around four months in 1957 and the ill-fated final running of the Mille Miglia. Racked by grief for his dead son Dino, Il Commendatore is juggling near-financial ruin and the wrath of his wife Laura, who has discovered the existence of his mistress Lina Lardi and illegitimate son Piero. The climax surrounds the race in which Alfonso de Portago and co-driver Ed Nelson crash to their deaths in an accident that also kills nine spectators, five of whom are children.
Marino Franchitti (above, with hair!) and Derek Hill, son of Phil, were among the stunt drivers for driving scenes.
The screenplay is based on the book ‘Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine’ by Brock Yates, which veteran film-maker Michael Mann first read in the early 1990s. Best known for crime thriller ‘Heat’ and boxing biopic ‘Ali’, Mann, now 80, spent the next three decades trying to raise the budget to make the movie. Linked in the distant past to Robert de Niro, with whom Mann worked on ‘Heat’, Batman star Christian Bale and Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman were both lined up to play the lead, only for Driver – best known as Kylo Ren in ‘Star Wars’ – to land the part for a film that is said to have cost $110 million (£88m).
Dempsey as Taruffi
“All of the many dynamic conflicts that are going on in his life collide into this particular period of time,” said Mann of his subject at the Venice Film Festival in September. “Everything about his history and what his future is going to be is all pivoting right now at this moment.”
The character study focuses on “Enzo’s strafing wit, the devastation of losing a child, operatic tirades, emotional sanctuary, tragedy, a monumental wager on one race and a struggle to survive,” according to the director.
Spaniard Penélope Cruz is particularly striking as Laura Ferrari, while rising American star Shailene Woodley plays Lina Lardi. Familiar faces crop up in cameos to play the racing driver characters, including English actor Jack O’Connell as Peter Collins and notably Patrick Dempsey – a Le Mans racer and team owner himself – as silver-haired Piero Taruffi.
Dempsey relished taking part the driving scenes, in recreated cars. LiDAR scans were taken of the originals and via CAD were custom designed with KTM four-cylinder twin-cam engines. Then to ensure the soundtrack was suitably accurate and dramatic, recordings were made of genuine Ferrari and Maserati V12s via cars owned by the likes of serial enthusiast (and Pink Floyd drummer) Nick Mason, then mixed to match the visuals.
Mixed is also the word for the reviews, so far although at an early screening we were delighted to find Motor Sport is name-checked. Laura Ferrari refers to “the man from Motor Sport” calling after the Mille Miglia, then adds: “I told him to go f**k himself.” That’s no way to speak to Jenks, never mind WB.