Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari, the owner of the Maranello team, the protagonist of the film. ferraripresented today at the Venice 80 competition. Michael Mann’s biopic is set in the exciting and perilous world of 1950s motor racing. But why talk about Enzo Ferrari today? “This is a deeply human and universal story. Everything is there: love, passion, ambition. Everything about Ferrari’s life is compressed in a melodramatic way,” answers Michael Mann, who dived into the place to bring this all-Italian story to the big screen, “like an anthropologist trying to understand the values and structure of these people’s society.”
Written by Troy Kennedy MartinItalian work) and Mann himself, the film is based on the novel Enzo Ferrari: Man and Machine by Brock Yates and filmed in Italy.
We are in Modena, 1957. Enzo Ferrari, a former driver and maker of the most famous cars in the world, is going through a personal and professional crisis. The company he created ten years ago out of thin air is in serious trouble, and even the marriage to his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) becomes increasingly turbulent after the death of their only son, Dino, and the discovery of the existence of a son, Piero. that Ferrari had an extramarital affair. In search of redemption, the Drake decides to bet everything on a high-speed race held in Italy: the legendary Mille Miglia.
There were many searches and locations for filming the film in exactly the places that represented the life of a Ferrari: from Enzo’s house to his barber shop and the restaurants he frequented. “However, it was interesting for me to talk about his psychology: his problems with the company, his falling apart marriage and his extramarital history, his mourning and pain over the death of his son Dino, which, however, makes him look to the future,” the director clarifies. We have tried to present all this with great care. And I decided to tell about this strong moment of his life, 1957, because many of the conflicts that take place in his life fall on this particular year.
And Adam Driver comments: “I always wanted to work with Michael. Most people have different opinions about Ferrari. A man touched by this terrible loss. An interesting character that I knew very little about. I tried to understand the mentality of the rider of those years. This is an instinctive character who makes decisions on his own without thinking too much about them. Locations and pre-production were also fundamental: we saw the company and heard the roar of engines to understand a different culture. We visited the museum and saw the Ferrari symbol. We took several parts of his personality. And we absorbed its culture.”
Regarding car racing, director Mann says: “I have also competed in the past and two things were clear to me: you focus on one goal and everything else disappears. And then a feeling of excitement. I wanted the viewer to feel it. I wasn’t looking for fancy graphics, but I wanted the viewer to feel what it was like to drive such a car in the 1950s.”
And Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi adds: “I already knew the story from the book. As soon as I read this, I thought it was the best thing I have read about the world of sports. Racing drivers live the way we should live: being in the present moment. It is up to us to maintain this state of concentration.”
Also in the cast are Shailene Woodley and Daniela Piperno: “Working with Michael was like dancing with Nureyev, that is, a very talented person held your hand. I really liked this character because she is not a fun guy, but a brave one. She’s the type who has the audacity to be so hateful it’s laughable. She is a dual woman. And this film is about our duality.”
ferrari is exclusive to the Italian company Leone Film Group in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be released in theaters by the distribution company 01.