Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz have debuted their new movie at the Venice Film Festival. “Ferrari” stars Driver as Enzo Ferrari, with the film trailing his life over the years, including his marriage to Laura Ferrari (played by Cruz) and his relationship with his mistress, Lina Lardi (played by Shailene Woodley).
The film is set in 1957, and was shot in Brescia, Italy. The story takes place right before a Ferrari race went awry and resulted in the death of nine people. The accident resulted in Enzo Ferrari and the tire manufacturer facing a manslaughter charge. The film appears to follow all of the drama and tragedy that surronded Ferrari’s life, including the death of his son.
The film was introduced at the Venice Film Festival, being one of the few allowed by the SAG-AFTRA strikes to conduct promotion since it’s not tied to any major studios. Driver and the film’s director, Michael Mann, spoke about the strikes and their pride in being involved in a film produced by an independent distributor. “The origins of the movie and the content of the screenplay and the movie that you saw do not fit into the kind of film that would be embraced by the conventional studio system. It’s truly appropriate that it is an independent film being distributed by Neon, a very independent distributor,” said Mann, per Variety.
The Hollywood Reporter shared a statement from Driver, who was very direct while discussing the film, taking the chance to target big studios. “Why is it that a smaller distribution company like Neon or STX International can meet the dream demands of what SAG is asking for in this pre-negotiation but a big company like Netflix and Amazon can’t?” he asked.