Ferrari Biopic Gets Their Leading Stars; Will Be Filmed in Italy
The last we wrote on the planned biopic on Enzo Ferrari, Christian Bale had dropped out of playing the lead role. Hugh Jackman aka Wolverine was in talks at one point to take it on but now we learn that the role will go to the undeniably talented Adam Driver of Star Wars fame.
Now, Driver will have to muster all his talents to play the role in the film that will take place in 1957, which was a challenging time for the Italian sports car manufacturer’s – in that year, Eugenio Castellotti was killed while testing a Ferrari car and during the Mille Miglia race, the Ferrari race car crashed after a tyre exploded, killing the two Ferarri drivers and nine spectators, many of them children. Enzo and the company were tried for manslaughter but the case was later dropped. Oh, and in that year, Enzo was 59 years old; Driver is only 38. Will they age Driver with make-up and prosthetics or will they take a little artistic license and portray a younger Enzo, we’ll be interested to see.
Playing Enzo’s wife, Laura, and mistress, Lina Lardy, will be Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley. Apparently, Enzo’s son, Piero, who is presently the Vice Chairman and 10% owner of the company, will also be a key character in the movie.
Piero, whose mother was Lardy, was not legally acknowledged until after Laura’s passing, even though he was Enzo’s only living son. Piero’s older half-brother, Dino, had died at the age of 24 from muscular dystrophy just one year before the film is set to take place. Although Enzo and Laura were eventually estranged, divorce was illegal in Italy until 1970.
The screenplay will be based on the book Ferrari – The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine published in 1991, written by Brock Yates. Director Michael Mann is pushing to start filming in May in Modena and Emilia Romagna.
After the success of Ford vs Ferrari (that was a great movie, wasn’t it?), we’ll be looking forward to more Oscar-worthy automotive-themed movies (not Fast & Furious).
