Ferrari: Everything We Know So Far About Michael Mann's Enzo Ferrari Biopic
2022 has already been a big year for Michael Mann, between the release of the pilot for "Tokyo Vice" — which marked Mann's first time back in the director's chair since his 2015 cyber-crime thriller "Blackhat" — and the arrival of his "Heat 2" novel. Now comes word that Mann has officially started shooting "Ferrari," a biopic about the titular Italian motor racing giant its director has been planning for a long time. And I mean a long time.
How long? "Ferrari" is based on a script co-credited to Troy Kennedy Martin, the late writer of the 1969 version of "The Italian Job" and "Kelly's Heroes," who passed away in 2009. It's a movie Mann has spent the good part of two decades trying to make a reality, during which time the film's original would-be leading man, Christian Bale, went and starred in another movie with the word "Ferrari" in its title, "Ford v Ferrari," while Mann's biopic spun its wheels (I know, I know, it can't be helped).
Despite all that, "Ferrari" only seems to be relatively cursed by Hollywood's standards, and is comfortably on its way to the big screen now, pending any unforeseen complications (knock on wood). Here's everything we know about the movie so far.
When and where to watch Ferrari
STX Entertainment is planning to release "Ferrari" in theaters in Fall 2023, prior to the film streaming exclusively on Showtime some later after. In spite of its financial woes in recent years, the studio behind mid-budget hits like "Hustlers" and "Bad Moms" is back in business for the moment and is hoping to remain firmly on its feet by the time Michael Mann's racing drama is ready.
So far as rebound projects for STX go, "Ferrari" reads like a promising choice. Back in 2019, the related but far from identical "Ford v Ferrari" was not only a sturdy box office success (grossing than double its $97.6 million budget worldwide), it also landed a Best Picture nod and took home the Academy Awards for Best Achievement in both Film Editing and Sound Editing. With an expert craftsman like Mann at the helm, the odds are decent, "Ferrari" will end up enjoying its own share of crossover appeal.
What is Ferrari about?
The official synopsis for "Ferrari" reads as follows:
"Ferrari" is set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
All the pieces seem to be there for one of Michael Mann's trademark captivating character studies by way of a riveting thriller, in the vein of classics like "Heat," "The Insider," and "Collateral." Equally enticing is the prospect of getting to watch Mann lend his expert vision to what STX describes as "the volatile and dangerous world of motor racing in the 1950s." The movie shouldn't be hurting for artful compositions, either, set against the backdrop of Italy (where "Ferrari" is filming on-location).
Who is working on Ferrari?
Adam Driver is starring in "Ferrari" as Enzo Ferrari, giving him a chance to see if he can one-up his — clears throat — questionable Italian accent from "House of Gucci." Other cast members include Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari, Patrick Dempsey as the Italian racing car driver Piero Taruffi, Jack O'Connell as the British racing car driver Peter Collins, Gabriel Leone as the Spanish aristocrat and racer Alfonso de Portago, Sarah Gadon as Mexican and Hollywood film star Linda Christian, and Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi.
Besides directing from a script he's credited for co-writing with Troy Kennedy Martin (based on Brock Yates' 1991 book "Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine"), Michael Mann is producing "Ferrari" through his Moto Pictures. Joining him behind the camera are Oscar-winning director of photography Erik Messerschmidt ("Mank"), production designer Maria Djurkovic ("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"), costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini ("Cyrano"), and two-time Oscar-winning editor Pietro Scalia ("JFK," "Black Hawk Down").