Sometimes dream projects feel as if they magically, suddenly materialize out of nowhere. Other times, it turns out dream projects have been ruminating for decade. Simply never getting an opportunity to be realized. That appears to be the case with Michael Mann (Thief, Miami Vice) and a film called ‘Ferrari’. One that just so happens to be causing a bit of a stir, in the Cannes virtual film market. Only partially because Hugh Jackman is negotiating a deal to play the lead.
Deadline broke news on Saturday that STX was engaging in handling international sales for the picture. Apparently, Amazon’s a big player also in the mix. Yet, it isn’t merely those entities entering the fray. Mann himself will be making a virtual pitch to buyers, this coming Tuesday. That much weight being thrown around, signifies this is a big project. If you toss words like Michael Mann, Hugh Jackman and old-timey racing together, it’s easy to understand why. No other names are being bandied about, from a producing or acting side, so it’s hard to tell if that’ll be enough.
As for the actual film, it’s based on Brock Yates’ Enzo Ferrari – The Man And The Machine. Mann is said to have recently done a reworking of the script. The previous draft was written by Troy Kennedy-Martin, before his passing in 2009. Martin famously penned the original The Italian Job. It’s said Ferrari is set around the 1957 Mille Miglia – a 1,000 mile race across Italy. A race that coincides with the Ferrari company is going broke and a marriage is tested. Covering a multitude of years and various figures, the race holds the future of many different parties in the balance.
If the above feels in line with last year’s Ford v Ferrari, that’s for good reason. Mann happened to serve as an executive producer, on the film. You can easily make the correlation between him standing on the sidelines there and having this in his back pocket. It’s more than likely seeing the success helped reinvigorate his desire to get this project off the ground. Barring any major setbacks, the plan is, once all the Cannes discussions are settled, to begin filming on Ferrari, early in 2021.
