Fresh off her Oscar nod for Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, Penélope Cruz is showing no signs of slowing down—she’s speeding up, if anything. Up next, the actor is taking on the role of Laura Ferrari, the wife of racing driver Enzo Ferrari with whom she built their eponymous luxury sports car company. Playing the famously charismatic and demanding tycoon? None other than the Oscar-nominated Adam Driver.
The good news doesn’t end there: in the director’s chair is Michael Mann who has taken the helm on everything from The Last of the Mohicans and Heat to The Insider and Collateral. He’s penned the script, which is based on the Brock Yates book Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine, alongside The Italian Job’s Troy Kennedy Martin. Titled Ferrari, the film is described as a big-budget biopic set in the summer of 1957 that will follow the couple through a turbulent period of their lives. Their marriage is in crisis over the death of their only son Dino, who had been groomed as Enzo’s successor, and the threat of bankruptcy is looming over their decade-old empire. At this crucial juncture, Enzo and his team of drivers decide to counter their losses by entering a historic race: the Mille Miglia, which will take them 1,000 miles across Italy.
Shailene Woodley joins Cruz and Driver as Lina Lardi, Enzo’s mistress and the mother of his second son, Piero, who would go on to become the vice chairman of the company. Also lending support are Gabriel Leone as Spanish racing driver Alfonso de Portago; Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian, the actor he was spotted with at the Mille Miglia; Jack O’Connell as British racer Peter Collins; and Patrick Dempsey as the Italian competitor Piero Taruffi. The first teaser, which dropped on August 30, features fast cars, simmering marital tension, passionate reconciliations and epic arguments, as well as a sample of Driver’s Italian accent. The last time we heard it? House of Gucci, of course.
The official trailer followed on October 18, and includes yet more gasp-inducing racing scenes, as well as some truly horrific car crashes.
Filming took place in Italy last May, on location in Enzo’s hometown of Modena and the Emilia-Romagna region, a long-standing hub for car production. It’s been a long time coming for Mann, who has reportedly been developing this passion project for 20 years (previous iterations were set to star Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Noomi Rapace). Following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, it’ll hit screens in the US on December 25, 2023. We can hardly wait.
