Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Michael Mann’s high-octane sports feature Ferrari, which was two decades in the making.
Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders London event last fall, the director admitted there were times he thought his passion project about the life of Enzo Ferrari would never take off. The script by Troy Kennedy Martin — based on Brock Yates’ book — kept him energized.
“There were numerous times when I thought this was an impossible film to make,” said Mann. “And then I would go back and reread the screenplay and what was magical and riveting about it would present itself all over again and I stayed completely committed to it.”
Martin, whose script credits included the original Michael Caine-starring The Italian Job among several BBC TV series including Z Cars and 1985’s political drama Edge of Darkness, died in 2009.
Ferrari, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August, is set in 1957, when the marriage of Enzo (Adam Driver) and Laura (Penélope Cruz) has begun to fracture as a result of his philandering and the tragic recent death of their young son. Their unsettled domestic world is on a collision course with his work life as Enzo faces a pair of major turning points: financial pressure to increase productivity, which means going against his long-standing desire to only produce race cars, and preparation for the treacherous cross-country open-road Mille Miglia race.
On Wednesday, Cruz netted a SAG Awards nomination for Supporting Actress and last week the film scored five BAFTA longlist nods, including for cinematography.
Neon is handling the U.S. release. Mann is also producing via his Moto Pictures banner alongside P.J. van Sandwijk and John Lesher, as well as Marie Savare, John Friedberg, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher and Gareth West.
Click below to read the script.
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