Adam Driver Barely Recognizable in 'Ferrari' Teaser, About Sports Car Entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari
"If you get into one of my cars, you get in to win." That's the singular line spoken in the new teaser for Michael Mann's Ferrari, the biographical drama about Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari.
Ferrari, which premieres at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on Thursday, Aug. 31, stars Adam Driver in the titular role, with Penélope Cruz as his wife Laura Ferrari and Shailene Woodley as his younger mistress, Lina Lardi. Set in the summer of 1957, the film depicts the series of events leading up to the infamous Mille Miglia race, which saw Ferrari's car blow a tire and kill 11 people in the ensuing crash, including the driver and nine spectators.
Given that the real Enzo Ferrari was nearly 60 in 1957, Driver, 39, is aged up for part of the film, which also features flashbacks to the early days of Ferrari's marriage. Most of the filming likewise occurred in Brescia, Italy, the real-life location of the Mille Miglia.
According to the official synopsis, the film sees Ferrari in crisis, as bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife 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," the synopsis continues. "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."
Patrick Dempsey likewise stars as fellow racecar driver Piero Taruffi, Jack O’Connell as racing driver Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon as actress Linda Christian, and Gabriel Leone as Ferrari's ill-fated driver, Alfonso de Portago. Both Ferrari and the manufacturer of the tire were charged with manslaughter over the incident, but the case was later dismissed.
Ferrari is scheduled for a Dec. 25, 2023 release by Neon, following a bidding war that included A24, another studio, and an unnamed streaming service. You can watch the teaser below.