‘Ferrari’ Runs On Two Tracks, The Personal And The Professional, Michael Mann & Stars Say – Contenders Film L.A.
19.11.2023 - 03:23
/ deadline.com
Neon introduced the Michael Mann-directed Ferrari with a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film Los Angeles on Saturday that featured a discussion with Mann and stars Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley.
The drama is not just about fast cars; it’s just as much about grief. Both from the danger of racing them in the treacherous Mille Miglia, flying through 1,000 miles of Italian streets at 130 mph through all weather, in death-trap cars that often left drivers with a short shelf life.
Enzo Ferrari (Driver), his company hanging by a thread because he’s more interested in speed than production of cars for the masses, struggles with two woman in his life. Cruz plays Laura, the wife who cannot get past the death of their son, partners in the company and living her life blaming her philandering husband for learning the hard way that the human body – in this case a youth suffering from muscular dystrophy – cannot be repaired the way a performance racing engine can. On the other side is Lina (Woodley), Ferrari’s longtime mistress and mother of another son who stands to inherit Ferrari, only Laura doesn’t want to allow it.
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The quartet discussed the dual tracks this drama plays on. In explaining the appeal of this crazy form of racing, which in 1957 culminated in a horrific accident that change the race forever, Mann described it like this:
“Pedestrians would crowd to the road. If I ask myself what I am trying to impact to the audience, it was not to observe pretty cars through long lenses,” he said. “It was to take you, the audience, and immerse you into this experience.