American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television Michael Mann is getting closer to the start line on his passion project Ferrari thanks to some strong new cast and a big domestic deal with STX.
deadline.com has confirmed that Oscar nominee Adam Driver, Oscar winner Penélope Cruz and Emmy nominee Shailene Woodley are newly aboard for the big-budget biopic of racing mogul Enzo Ferrari. Star Wars and House Of Gucci actor Adam Driver is replacing Hugh Jackman in the title role while Parallel Mothers star Penélope Cruz will play Laura, the wife of Enzo Ferrari. Big Little Lies star Shailene Woodley will play mistress Lina Lardi. Four-time Oscar nominee Mann is gearing up for a May start in Italy.
STX is handling International rights and has now picked up domestic in a big deal with Mann. As deadline.com reported a few weeks ago, Amazon is aboard in a handful of international markets. STX International will look to close remaining deals this week with some big international pacts already secured, including Leone in Italy.
The movie, which Mann has been working on for two decades, is set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
The project has famously been through multiple iterations, but this is as far along as the casting has been at any stage.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
Mann will direct from a script by Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) and Mann based on Brock Yates’ book Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine. The filmmaker is also producing via his Moto Productions banner alongside P.J. van Sandwijk and Birdman producer John Lesher, as well as Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher and Gareth West with Niels Juul executive-producing.
Michael Mann exlained: “Being able to have these wonderfully talented artists, actors Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley, bring to life these unique characters on location in Modena and the Emilia-Romagna is a vision fulfilled.”
Adam Fogelson, Chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture Group added: “Ferrari is so much more than a story about a man and his machine. It is an extraordinary and emotional story that Michael has been developing for years and the entire team at STX is looking forward to the start of production with this dream cast and filmmaker. Adam Driver is one of the most talented and fascinating actors working today, and we could not be more thrilled to pair him with Penélope, whose legendary career builds with every role she takes.” – he concluded.
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