Barely on the radar since the release of Hacker in 2015, Michael Mann has just got the go-ahead to film his biopic on Enzo Ferrari next spring. A project that the director of Heat and Public Enemies has been preparing for several decades. While both Al Pacino and Christian Bale were approached to play this legendary motorsports figure, Hugh Jackman is the one who’ll be climbing into the replica racing cars from back in the day, cars that will be made especially for the film.
A year after producing Le Mans 66 by James Mangold, that looks back at the rivalry between car makers Ford and Ferrari on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Michael Mann will be honing in on the year 1957 and another mythical race track: the Mille Miglia. It was a scorching summer for the Italian builder who had to deal with losing his son Dino – who died at the age of 24 – and the hefty financial difficulties faced by his company. Things were further complicated by the unravelling of his marriage after the appearance of a secret son conceived during the war.
In an interview with the magazine Deadline, the director discusses the thrilling biopic, bursting with the sort of authentic Italian flavours offered by Francis Ford Coppola's Godfathers saga. “The real power of this film lies in the emotional force of these lives, in complex and extreme circumstances. In addition, there is also the explosive power and the deadly beauty of racing.”
