Where to start with Michael Mann‘s “Ferrari“? It’s a passion project long in the making, with Mann developing it for over two decades. It’s also Mann’s first film with Adam Driver, and with rumors of Mann wanting to cast the actor in “Heat 2,” it may not be the last. And it’s the director’s first film since 2015’s “Blackhat,” an excellent and underrated film maligned by most audiences but with a devoted following.
Will “Ferrari” follow a similar trend? Critics were generally positive at the film’s world premiere at Venice in late August, but perhaps not as effusive as Mann fans hoped. Audiences get to make up their own minds this Christmas, when the biopic about the iconic Italian car manufacturer finally rolls into theaters.
And while Enzo Ferrari may need no introduction, “Ferrari” the movie does; here’s an official synopsis for the film, courtesy of NEON:
It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.
Along with Driver, “Ferrari” also stars Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, and Gabriel Leone. Jack O’Connell and Patrick Dempsey also star.
Troy Kennedy Martin writes a screenplay for Mann based on Brock Yates‘ book “Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine.” Mann produces “Ferrari” with P.J. van Sandwijk and John Lesher.
So how will Mann’s latest film measure up to the rest of his esteemed filmography? Find out “Ferrari” arrives in theaters on December 25. Check out a new trailer for the film below.
