Credit: Blackhat
It’s been seven years since Michael Mann directed a feature. Unfortunately, the talented filmmaker had a rare blunder on his hands as his last film was Blackhat, which starred Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, and Tang Wei; the 2015 feature was about a furloughed convict and his partners searching a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta. Blackhat received terrible critical and fan reviews, with Keith Garlington of Keith and the Movie summarizing the overall consensus perfectly:
“Blackhat is a movie built around a good idea and strengthened by some fantastic pulse-punding action. But ultimately, it sinks to its tiresome, long-winded story. Even the ever-likeable Chris Hemsworth can’t help it. He seems completely out of character, struggling with whatever kind of weird accent he’s going for, and I never felt a charismatic spark from him.”
Worse of all, Blackhat completely bombed at the box office, garnering an abysmal $19.7 million worldwide based on a production budget of $70 million. Since then, Mann has been on the executive producing side, notably creating HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice. He even directed the pilot episode, Luck. Mann also executive produced the Oscar nominee Ford v. Ferrari. Mann’s newest film was announced in 2015 with Christian Bale’s onboard, but the actor would eventually drop out due to weight concerns over the role. Next, Hugh Jackman entered negotiations for the part; however, he ultimately left the project by February 2022.
Credit: Ferrari
Ferrari is a bio-pic about the Italian race-car driver and founder of the sports car company Enzo Ferrari. Adam Driver is playing Ferrari, and he’s no stranger to autobiographies as he’s fresh off his turn as Maurizio Gucci in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. The Oscar nominee leads an all-star cast that sees Penelope Cruz as Laura Ferrari, Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi, Patrick Dempsey and Jack O’Connell as race car drivers Piero Taruffi and Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian, and Gabriel Leone as Fon De Portago. The upcoming feature is based on Brock Yates’ Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine book. Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job, Edge of Darkness) wrote the screenplay. Moto Pictures is the company producing the film alongside P.J. van Sandwijk, John Lesher, John Friedberg, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher, Gareth West, and Thomas Hayslip. Though an exact release date hasn’t been set, the film is expected to come out in the fall of 2023.
The movie has officially begun filming, with the first image of the Michael Mann feature released to Deadline (Second picture above). Specifically, Ferrari will document the summer of 1957, when the ex-racecar driver falls into bankruptcy and damages his career and marriage to his wife, Laura. This piles onto the loss of their son. With Ferrari being down on luck, Enzo risks it on a race, which is 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.
Credit: @MichaelMann
Given the incredible depth of talent in front and behind the camera, it would be shocking if this film turned out bad. While Blackhat was a misfire from Mann, the filmmaker has directed several gems such as Collateral, Heat, Manhunter, and The Insider. Of course, Mann is excited to be directing this project and ecstatic about the cast he’s working with, “The most thrilling part of this experience is working with dedicated and passionate artists,” said Mann on his latest feature, Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley, as well as with an extraordinary supporting cast of Jack O’Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone and more in these highly dramatic roles.”
Ford v. Ferrari
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