Neon has acquired North American rights to Michael Mann’s drama and potential awards season heavyweight Ferrari starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz which is hotly tipped to world premiere at Venice Film Festival.
The company has set a December 25 wide theatrical release after it prevailed in what sources said was a competitive situation involving at least one other theatrical distributor and a streamer.
Ferrari is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950’s Formula 1 ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife Laura built from nothing ten years earlier and their tempestuous marriage is tested as they mourn the loss of their son.
Against the backdrop of all this, Ferrari risks everything in the treacherous Mille Miglia 1,000-mile race across Italy.
Driver plays Enzo Ferrari, Cruz is Laura Ferrari and the cast includes Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi, Jack O’Connell as Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian, Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi, and Gabriel Leone as Alfonso De Portago.
Mann directed Ferrari from a script by Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) based on Brock Yates’ book ‘Enzo Ferrari – The Man And The Machine’. Mann is also producing through his Moto Pictures alongside P.J. van Sandwijk and Birdman producer John Lesher, as well as Marie Savare, John Friedberg, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher, and Gareth West.
The crafts roster includes cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, production designer Maria Djurkovic, costume designer Massimo Cantini Parrini, and editor Pietro Scalia.
Neon CEO Tom Quinn said, “Michael Mann, one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema, was moved by the power of this intensely dramatic story to persist for years to bring it to the big screen. Ferrari reaffirms Neon’s continued commitment to supporting visionary auteurs who push the boundaries of cinema. Working with Michael Mann on Ferrari is a dream come true for Neon.”
Dan Friedkin, Ryan Friedkin and Quinn brokered the deal with CAA Media Finance and attorney Harold Brown of Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown on behalf of Mann.
Black Bear International is handling international sales on Ferrari on behalf of STX.
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