Enzo Ferrari in 1925 (Public Domain)
Students who are currently studying to become a mechanic may hope to one day work on Ferraris. Likewise, anyone going into car sales training may hope to get a job working at a Ferrari dealership, selling these incredibly iconic vehicles. But what do auto technicians, car enthusiasts and the public in general know about Ferrari himself, and the early days of the brand?
Hopefully they will know quite a bit more after watching the upcoming biopic produced by Gianni Bozzacchi and starring actor Robert De Niro. Yes, the star who first rose to cinematic prominence playing a taxi driver is now scheduled to portray racing and automotive legend Enzo Ferrari on screen
The Ferrari Biopic
A Hollywood movie telling Ferrari’s story isn’t a new concept. In fact, people have been trying to make it a reality since the 1990s. There was even a script written in 2004 by Troy Kennedy Martin and David Rayfield that Sidney Pollack was signed on to direct, but the project fell apart in 2008 after Pollack’s death. There was even an aborted attempt to bring it back last year.
Now, De Niro and Bozzacchi are in charge, and the film is being produced by their respective production companies. They are reportedly in talks with screenwriters Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele about a new script, and want Clint Eastwood to direct it.
The film is supposed to tell Ferrari’s story from 1945 until 1980.
The Real Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari didn’t start out wanting to produce and sell cars. He was much more interested in racing them and managing other racers. That’s exactly what he did during the 1920s and 30s. He had his own racing team which used Alfa Romero cars and, for a while, became the racing division of Alfa Romero.
During World War II, Alfa Romero was seized by the government, but the racing division was small enough to not be touched. Ferrari, though, was on his own. After the war, he started producing cars in order to fund Scuderia Ferrari (or Team Ferrari), and in 1969 Fiat bought a 50% stake in Ferrari, giving them much more money to work with.
Shortly before his death in 1988, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the F-40, a now famous and at the time ground-breaking sports car. And the rest, as they say, is history.
New Ferraris on the Way
Even with its storied past, Ferrari is still a company of the future, and a movie about their founder and namesake isn’t the only product slated to come out in the next little while. Here are some others:
- The 488 GBT: Ferrari’s smallest supercar is now turbocharged. This is a replacement for the company’s 458 Italia and it comes with at 3.9 litre V8 engine, 661 breaking horsepower and 561 lb-ft of torque.
- The 2015 California T: This is what Ferrari considers an entry-level car. You get 553 horsepower and 557 lb-ft of torque with a 3.9 litre turbocharged (hence the “T”) V-8 engine.
Are you excited for De Niro’s Ferrari movie? Are you more excited to work on a new Ferrari?
