Michael Mann and Hugh Jackman's FERRARI Film Moving Forward With STX Films and Amazon
Director Michael Mann’s long-time passion project Ferrari is in the process of moving forward thanks to STX Films and Amazon. Hugh Jackman was attached to over three years ago to play Enzo Ferrari. A lot has happened since then, and the actor is now in discussions again to star as the Ferrari founder.
The film will chart the summer of 1957 when all the forces in Ferrari’s life – which were often as combustible and volatile as the iconic race cars he built – collided. The now legendary car company he and his wife Laura built was at the time going broke. Their tempestuous marriage had already suffered the death of their son, Dino, and Ferrari’s other son, 12-year old Piero, the product of a wartime romance, was struggling to find his place in the world.
The entrepreneur rolled the dice for all their futures on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the brutal and infamous 1957 Mille Miglia. The film will be framed so that during the highly dangerous race, Laura discovers long kept secrets, we see opportunities rise and fade, and drivers, who are like surrogate sons, are pushed beyond the edge.
Mann has been working on polishing the script for the film over the years. That script was originally written by the late Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) and is based on Brock Yates’ book Enzo Ferrari – The Man And The Machine.. When talking about the idea of the film, Mann told Deadline:
“The real power of this piece is in the emotionally charged lives of these people in complex, extreme circumstances. In addition, there is the explosive power and lethal beauty of racing. It has a great drama at its core and that’s why Ferrari stayed with me.”
The report goes on to say that the movie “has an almost Godfather-type feel to it and is rich in local flavor but also universal truths. Mann, who is familiar with the Ferrari family, will build a fleet of replica race cars from the era. We hear that Jackman and Mann have already read through some of the film’s most potent scenes.”
Enzo Ferrari was also one of the subjects of James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari, which was produced by Michael Mann. The filmmaker is looking to start shooting his Ferrari film in spring 2021.