A rare American star is spotted on the Lido: it was Adam Driver, in a sign of union liberation from the brutal writers’ and actors’ strike going on in Hollywood, who arrived at the Venice Film Festival to present his Enzo Ferrari.
After playing Maurizio Gucci in Ridley Scott’s The House of Gucci, the 39-year-old actor competes today with another Italian, Drake, the Maranello legend and protagonist of Michael Mann’s film, for the Golden Lion. Produced by STX Entertainment, Ferrari is an exclusive from Italy’s Leone Film Group in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be released in theaters through 01 Distribution. “A special person, different from everyone else, a person who was spurred on by grief for his young son Dino, the pain that he felt. And all the relationships with the people around him, in the family and in the stable, were Enzo Ferrari,” says Adam Driver, “Little did I know, but while we were preparing the film, we got to know the real places of Modena, the hairdresser, the studio, the house, the restaurants, I connected with him and his world, it was really exciting.”
The self-produced blockbuster (which is why Driver was able to be here and with him one of his co-stars Patrick Dempsey, the legendary Piero Taruffi, Silver Fox), shot in Italy, with adrenaline-filled racing scenes, there is a re-enactment of the famous 1957 Mille Miglia race with a tragedy that cost the life of Ferrari driver Alfonso De Portago and caused a massacre among the public in Guidizzolo, resulting in the death of nine spectators, including 4 children. It was the last Mille Miglia, later banned for security reasons, the end of an era.
The cast includes Penélope Cruz (his wife Laura Ferrari), Jack O’Connell, Sarah Gadon (Linda Christian), Gabriel Leon, Lino Musella, Valentina Belle and Shailene Woodley, who plays lover Lina Lardi, from whom Pierrot will be born, admitted. only in 1975. Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s versatile heir, is expected on the red carpet tonight with the vintage red 315 S that won the race driven by Taruffi. “I have always been fascinated by such deeply human stories, when I came across it I was struck by such a dynamic character as Enzo Ferrari. All his contrasting sides are universal, but such is life, and he has concentrated them,” says the director. Both said they support the strike. Driver explained the reasons for his presence: “I am very proud that I am here to represent a film that is not part of the AMPTP, the Alliance of American Producers, and to promote the directive of SAG, the Actors Union, which, with the Interim Agreement for Independent Films, promotes promotion and at the same time makes the strike more visible, which, in my opinion, is a very effective tactic.”
“Why is it that a small distribution company like Neon and STX International can satisfy what Sag is asking for, but large companies like Netflix and Amazon cannot?” Driver argues in response to an American journalist. Let’s leave it aside, we return to Ferrari with curiosity too. In the film, the former driver with a “deadly passion,” as he puts it in the film, for engines seems to only have a heart that beats for racing. It’s a pity that Adam Driver didn’t have this joy: “Insurance companies didn’t trust me, they wouldn’t let me drive. They scared me, I admit, no one wanted me to even touch them, but it was important for the film to have them, as well as to travel around Italy and visit real places. It is important to understand the context and mentality. Ferrari was a unique person, incredibly focused on the present, on racing, on winning.”
1957 was a turning point in the life of Enzo Ferrari: he lost his beloved son Dino due to dystrophy at the age of 24, his marriage to Laura, destroyed by pain, broke up, and in the meantime he continued an extramarital affair with Lina Lardi, famous during the war and giving his son Pietro, who calls him father, but whom he recognizes only in 1975, during the races his faithful friends die, and the challenge of Maserati, also from Modena, robs him of sleep, because for him there is only racing, and That year’s Mille Miglia ended in tragedy. Public and private coincidence in Michael Mann’s melody.
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