What a dose of adrenaline-pumping excitement for a slow Hump Day! Ferrari is one of my most anticipated movies of the year and NEON just unveiled its first trailer… behold:

Full synopsis: It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.

I LOVE that it promptly starts with a fast-driving scene and the masterfully-edited trailer gives me such a rush in its brief 1.5 minutes! The only sound you hear is the revving engine and gear shifting, no dialog at all until the very end where Enzo confidently proclaims that…

If you get into one of my cars, you get in to win.

I suppose it’s kismet that an actor with the last name Driver is portraying an iconic Italian luxury car entrepreneur. Adam Driver is one versatile thespian (yes I think he deserves that term) and he’s once again playing an Italian man after his role as Maurizio Gucci in 2021’s House of Gucci. I like that his Italian accent isn’t over the top, there’s only a hint of it which is enough to tell the viewers of his character’s origin.

Notably there are no major Italian names in the cast, instead we’ve got Spanish Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari, American Shailene Woodley as Enzo’s mistress Lina Lardi and Canadian Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian, the girlfriend of one of Ferrari’s drivers Alfonso de Portago who perished in 1957 Mille Miglia race. American Patrick Dempsey and British Jack O’Connell are playing race car drivers.

I just read this Variety interview with Michael Mann a few days ago where the 80-year-old filmmaker talked about finally fulfilling his lifelong dream to make a Ferrari film. It was as far back as the early 90s when he first read a script about Enzo Ferrari and Christian Bale almost played that role in 2015 before dropping out. The article mentioned that ‘…as the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes rage on, Mann is proud that his film has no ties to the major studios.’ It’s being distributed by NEON, an independent film production and distribution company.

There’s also a tidbit about how Mann reimagined the fiery 1955 crash at Le Mans which the article described as ‘unsparing’ with severed body parts and decapitated torsos, oh my!! But then again, per Wiki, it was regarded as the most catastrophic crash in motorsport history when large pieces of debris flew into the crowd and killed 82 spectators + French driver Pierre Levegh.

In any case, I’m really excited to see another Mann’s feature since the not-so-great Blackhat back in 2015. Since then he’s been busy directing/producing the excellent TOKYO VICE series and wrote the novel of HEAT sequel which ends up as a NY Times Best Seller. If we were to judge by this thrilling teaser, I’m hopeful this Mann in top form.

Ferrari is debuting at Venice International Film Festival before it’s released on Christmas Day. Can’t wait!!

What do you think of FERRARI trailer?

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