Perhaps the rising popularity of Formula 1 did not play a part in it, but the Ferrari movie is all about the racing competition. Formula 1 gave birth and the platform to Ferrari for it to become the iconic brand it is today. However, building the brand from the ground up and reaching the heights it has now done came with its own set of challenges. Enzo Ferrari, the Italian race car driver and father of the brand, faced many challenges in the earlier stages. The 2023 Ferrari movie starring Adam Driver and Patrick Dempsey highlights a particularly troublesome summer in the life of the Father of Ferrari.
The brand Ferrari was established in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari, with the first car ever built in 1940. Fast forward almost two decades later and that’s when the biopic is set, in the summer of 1957. Enzo Ferrari’s auto empire is on the brink of bankruptcy and, according to him, only one thing can save it from extension: the Mille Miglia race. In this piece, we will give an insight into the movie.
What part of Ferrari’s history will you witness in the latest movie?
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As reported by Detroit News, the 2023 American biopic is based on the 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine. Motorsport journalist Brock Yates wrote the biopic and adapted for screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin and directed by Michael Mann. The movie has an A-list cast including and limited to Adam Driver, Shailene Woodley, Penelope Cruz playing Enzo Ferrari’s wife Laura, and Patrick Dempsey. Now, let’s talk about the time in the life of Enzo Ferrari played by Driver, around whom the entire plot of the movie revolves.
The film is set in a period of Enzo Ferrari’s life where he is reeling from the death of his son Dino, who he and his wife played by Penelope Cruz, lost because of muscular dystrophy. On the other hand, Enzo Ferrari also has a son with his mistress Lina played by Shailene Woodley.
With his personal life already out of control, his professional life is being threatened with bankruptcy as the father of Ferrari is trying to amp up production to survive. Amidst all this agony, Enzo Ferrari gets the idea to enter his team into the treacherous 1000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia. The idea behind entering the race was to humiliate competitor Maserati and bring a boom in sales. We won’t tell you how it ends, so please go watch the movies in theaters, which has garnered praise from the world of F1.
Similar to the life of Enzo Ferrari, the movie also faced a lot of difficulties before it saw the silver screen. It took almost 30 years in the making and a few sacrifices.
Michael Mann reveals his dedication to the Ferrari project
Mann started the development of the movie back in 1993 with legendary Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro in the lead. However, De Niro had creative differences with the director, which is why the project was put on hold, and eventually the actor backed down. In 2015, Christian Bale was signed to play the famed automaker, but he backed down as well 6 months into the project due to health concerns for his other roles.
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So after years of patience, the director and even Adam Driver showcased charisma and took pay cuts to make the movie a reality. The director revealed, “Because we would only make it the one-way. I was offered opportunities to make it at a much lower budget over the years but I if couldn’t make it the right way I didn’t want to make it. It was very much made by the people who worked on the film, in the sense that Adam (Driver) and I took huge salary cuts.” He also revealed some members worked for free just to see this biopic come to life.
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A truly epic movie about a special man, made by extraordinary people. What are your thoughts on the adaptation?
