Michael Mann’s Ferrari: shot in Italy, in competition at Venice
Michael Mann’s Ferrari, about a delicate moment in the life of legendary Enzo Ferrari, will have its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it has been selected for competition.
The film is an American production, produced by STX Entertainment, and a Leone Film Group exclusive for Italy in collaboration with RAI Cinema. It will be theatrically distributed by 01 Distribution.
The many top names in the technical cast include the double Oscar winning costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini who created the vintage looks for the film.
Story and Cast: Adam Driver is Enzo Ferrari
Written by Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) and Mann, the film is based on Brock Yates’ book, Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine (1991) and set in the summer of 1957 when the former racing driver was in the midst of a personal and professional crisis. The company that he had created 10 years earlier was in serious trouble and his marriage to Laura was becoming increasingly tempestuous after the death of their only child, Dino, and the revelation that he had a son, Piero, by his mistress. Looking for way out, “Drake” decided to bet everything on an Italian speed race, the legendary Mille Miglia.
Enzo Ferrari is played by Adam Driver who is accompanied by a stellar cast which includes the Oscar-winning Penélope Cruz as his wife Laura, Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, the Rossa di Maranello driver in the 1957 Mille Miglia, Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi, Ferrari’s long-standing mistress and Jack O'Connell(Peter Collins), Gabriel Leone (Fon De Portago), Sarah Gadon, Lino Musella, Michele Savoia.
Modena, Reggio Emilia and Campo Imperatore provided locations for Ferrari
Ferrari was shot entirely on location in the centre-north of Italy last autumn. Michael Mann chose the places where the great Emilian car innovator and driver was born and lived, such as Modena. Piazza Grande provided one of the settings for the passing of the Mille Miglia, featuring a notable driver, Patrick Dempsey. For the occasion, the central square was taken back to how it looked in 1957, when the podium of the historic race was shared by three “Rosse”. Everything in the square, from the cars to the extras in vintage costumes, contributed to recreating the legend of Enzo Ferrari. The shoot in Modena also involved piazza Roman, corso Canalgrande- between via Università and via Gherarda, largo Garibaldi and most of the city centre – including the area outside teatro Storchi, with Giuseppe Graziosi’s fountain of Two Rivers – and the cemetery of San Cataldo.
A 400-strong crew worked on the shoot in Reggio Emilia: a historic palace situated along the porticoes of via Emilia San Pietro - number 22 - was transformed into the Ferrari family residence. The atmospheric strada della Vittoria, near Novellara, was tarmacked by the production; here in a historic hunting lodge that belonged to the Freddi brothers, Shailene Woodley plays her part as Gerrari’s mistress Lina Lardi.
Fiorano Modenese, the legendary circuit near Maranello belonging to Scuderia Ferrari and symbolic of the age of “Drake”, was obviously an essential location as were the hill roads in the area of Puianello, between Castelvetro and Maranello.
The tragedy of Guidizzolo recreated in Campo Imperatore and Novellara
In addition to Emilia-Romagna, the production chose to shoot in Abruzzo in Campo Imperatore, simulating the 1957 Mille Miglia on roads leading from Fonte Cerreto and Fonte Vetica, including Vado di Sole, Castel del Monte, the small square of Assergi and the road to Santo Stefano di Sessanio with the production base in Montecristo. The scenes of the terrible accident that took place in Guidizzolo (province of Mantua) involving Alfondo De Portago (played by Gabriel Leone) and his Ferrari 335S were recreated in Abruzzo and Novellara. A tire suddenly burst causing the car to swerve and hit roadside, killing the two men in the vehicle and nine people (including 5 children) in the crowd and wounding many others.
Other locations included piazza Vittoria in Brescia, starting point for the Mille Miglia, and the area around Alessandria in Piedmont.