Director Michael Mann has insisted his new film Ferrari is “not a racing movie”.

Starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz in the leading roles of Enzo and Laura Ferrari, the film covers a few difficult months of Enzo’s life as he balances two families all while his family’s company is on the brink of financial collapse.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mann explained that viewers expecting a racing movie will be disappointed.

“This is not a racing movie,” the director said. “This is really a movie behind racing, behind Ferrari. Three very torrid months in the life of Ferrari, his wife, Laura, both in grief over the death of their son, Dino, a year earlier.”

The 80-year-old Heat filmmaker also shared how he knew that Driver and Cruz were perfect for the lead roles.

“Adam because I sensed, sitting across from him at a table at Chateau Marmont, the tone, the artistic integrity,” Mann explained. “You see it in somebody’s eyes if you’re a director, that dedication, the commitment. Adam’s absolutely the real deal.”

He continued, “Penélope possesses this natural, primitive – in a great way – primitive kind of life force where she just speaks her mind. I’ve known her for a long time, but when we were discussing Laura on a Zoom, within five minutes, I knew, ‘She’s Laura, and there was nobody else on the planet who could be Laura better than she could.'”

Ferrari premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August and received a seven-minute standing ovation.

The film will be released in cinemas from 25 December.

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