Enzo Ferrari movie gets ready for starting grid

The long-delayed Enzo Ferrari biopic, Ferrari, is back on track and due to start filming this year.  

Nicknamed “il Commendatore”, Enzo Ferrari (1898—1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur. In founding the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team and subsequently the Ferrari road car division, he created one of the world’s most storied automotive marques.  

The big-budget movie about the controversial and charismatic car mogul will have Star Wars’ Adam Driver in the lead role, with Oscar winner Penelope Cruz playing Enzo’s wife Laura and Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) cast as his mistress Lina Lardi. It will be directed by Michael Mann, whose movies The Insider and The Aviator earned him Oscar nominations.

According to the magazine Deadline, Driver replaces Hugh Jackman in the role of the driver and entrepreneur who built up one of the world’s most iconic car brands.

The movie, which has been in development for a number of years, is set in 1957 which was a crisis year for the house of the prancing horse, with the 10-year-old company facing bankruptcy and Enzo and Laura experiencing a tempestuous marriage. 

Enzo decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race — 1,600km across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

The movie has been through a number of delays and iterations, but filming is reportedly due to start in May.

Ferrari follows a succession of adrenaline-fuelled motoring biopics in recent years:

Rush (2013) depicted the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt as McLaren Formula One teammates in the 1976 season; Driven (2018) was a comedy thriller about John DeLorean, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company; and Ford vs Ferrari (2019) told of the feud between the two car brands at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in the 1960s.