Michael Mann is enlisting Adam Driver to steer “Ferrari” into awards season.
The Ferrari family feature starring Driver as Enzo Ferrari and Penelope Cruz as his wife, Laura Ferrari, will debut at 2023 Venice Film Festival, followed by a North American premiere at NYFF.
The official synopsis reads, “Ferrari” is set during the summer of 1957. Ex-race car driver, Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing 10 years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgment of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Jack O’Connell, and Patrick Dempsey also star. “Ferrari” marks lead actor Driver’s second Italian based-on-a-true-story feature: The “Marriage Story” Oscar nominee appeared in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” based on the Gucci dynasty.
Mann directed “Ferrari” from a script by Troy Kennedy Martin (“The Italian Job”) based on Brock Yates’ book “Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine.” Four-time Oscar nominee Mann is also producing the film through his Moto Pictures alongside P.J. van Sandwijk and John Lesher, as well as John Friedberg, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher, Gareth West and Thomas Hayslip with major support from producers Andrea Iervolino & Monika Bacardi and their production service company, ILBE, and are joined by executive producer, Niels Juul.
Filmed on location in Italy, Academy Award-winning director of photography Erik Messerschmidt is behind the cinematography, with production including Oscar-nominated production designer Maria Djurkovic, two-time Oscar-nominated costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini, and two-time Oscar-winning editor Pietro Scalia.
“Ferrari” marks the Closing Night selection for 2023 NYFF, with festival Artistic Director Dennis Lim saying, “Michael Mann has made many remarkable movies but perhaps never one as simultaneously thrilling and moving as ‘Ferrari.’ Not just a feat of virtuosity, this is a grand and striking evolution of his career themes and his most deeply personal work. We are honored to welcome him to the festival for what I’m sure will be a Closing Night for the ages.”
“Ferrari” premieres in theaters December 25 via Neon. Check out the trailer below.
