Nearly three decades ago, Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari passed from this mortal coil. Now, actor Robert De Niro will play him in an upcoming biopic.
Motorsport reports the film — titled “Ferrari” and produced in a collaboration between De Niro’s Tribeca Enterprises and former photographer Gianni Bozzacchi’s Triworld Cinema — will be shot in Italy, and will hit theatres sometime in 2016.
When interviewed by Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, De Niro had this to say about playing the legendary founder:
For me it is an honour and a joy to tell the life of an extraordinary man who revolutionised the automotive world and across historical periods.
Bozzacchi, who is producing the film, adds that “Ferrari” would have a large budget, and would be based upon “an epic story” covering the period between 1945 and 1988. Actor/director Clint Eastwood was approached to direct the project, while “Nixon” writers Stephen J Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson have also been linked.
This. Is. Awesome.
Isn’t De Niro quite a bit shorter than Enzo was? Nevertheless, he should nail the role.
I agree, this should be great. As to De Niro’s height difference, since when has this stopped Hollywood? Haha. I mean if that were a major problem, Tom Cruise wouldn’t have a career. Nothing like a short joke to start the morning…
Correct. The height difference is a non-issue that can be fixed with clever shooting. Perfect example – The Italian Job reboot from ~10 years ago. Mark Wahlberg is so much shorter than Charlize Theron, but you’d hardly notice it.
Also, Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. They look nothing alike, but he will probably nail the role.
Umm, since when? According to IMDB, Charlize Theron is 5’9.5 while Marky Mark is 5’8. I don’t think 1.5″ is a major difference. Just don’t let the actress wear heels in the movie and it’s all good.
I’ve met Mark Wahlberg. He’s 5’8″ like I’m 185 lbs; only in each of our dreams. He looks like he’s a hundred yards away when he’s standing on your foot. That being said, he’s a super nice guy, but I’d probably be a nice guy too if absolutely anyone could pick me up and throw me to the horizon.
Sweet, love this guy (although I lost a little respect for him when he came out supporting Hilary for our next president). “You talkin to me?”
Who could do it better?
If you’re looking for the perfect Presidential candidate, you’ll be waiting a long time. The perfect guy died on the cross and the opposition would have tarred him with so much BS you would have ended up believing some if it. After all, Hillary had Vince Foster killed and ordered Chris Stevens to his death, right?
The Clintons have left a trail of bodies in their wake just like any other organized crime figure, er politician. In the end though there is really only one party with two sides both of which are about the GREEN.
The “green” is always secondary in politics. Number one is always “power” and its exercise: when you have it, somebody else foots the bill (guess who?).
“I’m here to take all you guineas’ money!”
You talkin to me?
If De Niro makes it on SNL during the time this film is released, he should make a parody trailer of Enzo where he just does his Jake La Motta character from Raging Bull.
Somehow this sounds like one of those projects where the primary draw for the participants is a paid vacation to a nice locale.
Forget Eastwood. Scorsese or Coppola should take scale to do this. Keep it in the Family.
After what he did with Rush, I think Ron Howard is the best choice.
“Rush” was fracking fantastic.
Eh. I’ll have to re-watch it. I seem to remember some scenes where Hunt shifted up 8 times.
Scorsese or Coppola taking scale? That’s funny. How about a percentage of the gross?
“Robert DeNiro’s racing, talking Italian”
“Forget Eastwood. Scorsese or Coppola…” I think you have a very good point there, any of those two would be a great choice, as for De Niro I think he no longer is the great actor he once was. The part should go to someone else…
While I agree DeNiro’s done a lot of crap for money, I wouldn’t count him out. He’s got a few good performances left. If this movie is well done and not just a cynical crapfest, he could do something with it.
So, who’s going to play Ford? I mean, you can’t shoot a movie about Enzo without talking about one of the biggest dick moves he ever pulled in his life, and without showing the thrashing they took over the subsequent years at LeMans…
If the period covered is 1945-1988, it would have to cover that rivalry at Le Mans. As I mentioned above about politics, it’s not about money but power. Henry Ford II in his response to Ferrari’s snub showed how power is exercised.
Whatever happened to the movie that Tom Cruise was supposedly doing based on the book “Go Like Hell” about the Ford-Ferrari Le Mans battle?
The owners of the cars refused to allow blocks to placed on the pedals so Cruise could reach them.
Who gets to play Henry Ford II, Colin Chapman and Carroll Shelby?
If you think about it, Enzo Ferrari was responsible for some great cars just by p!ssing people off, for example the Ford GT40, Shelby Daytona Coupe and Lamborghinis.
De Niro’s come a long way from pitching AMC Ambassadors:
http://www.carsindepth.com/?p=11117
I thought that Vinnie Chase was going to play Enzo Ferrari.
Vin Diesel looks more like EnZo in his younger days. Put a wig on him, teach how to speak properly and bingo!.
Hollywood doesn’t pick actors by resemblance to the real person anymore, all that matters is box office. Do you think Leo DiCaprio was picked because he looked like Howard Hughes?