The official trailer for Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” has been released, and it takes us deep into the heart of Adam Driver’s Enzo Ferrari’s struggle as he navigates personal and professional challenges.
The film chronicles Ferrari’s journey through the tumultuous 1950s, from the brink of bankruptcy to intense rivalries and eventual global acclaim. Amidst this backdrop, Enzo Ferrari and his wife Laura, portrayed by Penélope Cruz, grapple with the profound grief of losing their son, while Ferrari’s team of drivers gears up to confront the treacherous Mille Miglia, a demanding cross-country race that stretches across Italy.
The trailer is a high-octane showcase of racing and drama, characterised by Mann’s signature dynamic camera techniques. It opens with Driver’s Ferrari calmly explaining, “Two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in time.” With a relaxed yet foreboding tone, Ferrari hints at the potential collision of two racing cars, all the while raising the introspective question, “The corner races at you. You have perhaps a crisis of identity – am I a sportsman or a competitor?”
We then get a peek into Ferrari’s relentless pursuit of pushing his new cars to their absolute limits, resulting in occasional explosive and life-threatening crashes. Just moments before the harsh reality of his impending bankruptcy is revealed, Ferrari declares, “If you get into one of my cars, you get in to win.”
The pivotal 1957 Mille Miglia marked a make-or-break moment for Ferrari. The company was hemorrhaging money, and only a win at the world’s most prestigious track race could redeem its reputation. As one character informs Driver’s character, “Enzo you’re going broke,” exposing his financial struggle as he was spending more than he was earning, and the only way to save his own and the company’s reputation was to “win the Mille Miglia.”
The pressure on Ferrari and his drivers was immense, as depicted in the trailer. Ferrari himself articulates, “This is a gun pointed at our head.” Names like Piero Taruffi, Wolfgang von Trips, Olivier Gendebien, Jacques Washer, Alfonso de Portago, and the rest of the Scuderia drivers were under the spotlight, compelled to prove their mettle as true competitors.
At the same time, Ferrari was grappling with his personal life, trying to balance the world he’d built with his wife and business partner, Laura (played by Penélope Cruz), while coping with the loss of their son, Dino, and managing his other family with his mistress, Lina Lardi (played by Shailene Woodley), and their son, Piero.
“Ferrari” stars Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari, Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari, Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi, Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, Jack O’Connell as Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian, and Gabriel Leone as Alfonso de Portago. The film is directed by Michael Mann and produced by P.J. van Sandwijk, Marie Savare, John Lesher, Thomas Hayslip, John Friedberg, Laura Rister, Andrea Iervolino, Monika Bacardi, Gareth West, Lars Sylvest, and Thorsten Schumacher.
Ferrari zooms into theatres on December 25, 2023.
