With an $80 million price tag, Michael Mann‘s brewing biopic, “Enzo Ferrari,” needs a big name to make that return on investment. He had one in Christian Bale, who signed on for the picture last year. However, with a summer start date looming, the actor has gotten cold feet about the project.
Deadline reports that Bale has exited the movie, citing health concerns over the weight gain he needed to achieve to play the role. The actor has slimmed down (“The Machinist,” “The Fighter“), bulked up (“The Dark Knight” movies), and pudged out (“American Hustle“) for roles over the years, but I’d imagine you can only do that so many times before your body starts to revolt.
Based on Brock Yates’s book, “Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races,” with a script by Troy Kennedy Martin (“The Italian Job”) and David Rayfield (“Out of Africa”), the film tells story of the founder of one of the world’s most infamous car franchises. Last fall, Noomi Rapace signed on for the movie as well, but there’s no word if she’s still involved.
The aim is get the movie made on schedule, and the hunt is on for a new A-list actor to take the lead role. Paramount is set to distribute.