Adam Driver recalls 'terrifying' experience driving vintage car for Ferrari movie
Adam Driver has discussed what it was like driving old school Ferraris - and I don't think he'll be racing to do it again.
Driver is starring as Enzo Ferrari himself in the upcoming film Ferrari, and for the biographical drama, the Marriage Story star had to drive what he described as an 'open-wheel single seater' for the film's pre-production.
The synopsis of the new movie, which is set to hit cinemas in December, reads: "Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari's auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy."
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As you can expect, the film is very car-centred; and Driver had to do lots of driving (as per his name) beforehand.
He didn't drive any of the cars on the set of the movie, however.
Recalling getting behind the wheel of one of the vintage sports cars, the 39-year-old actor said the experience was 'terrifying'.
"It teleports you back to the time and you realize if you turn left or right the wrong way, then you’re dead," he told Variety.
"There’s at least seatbelts in the newer cars.”
Driver also labelled one of the single-seater cars as a 'moving coffin'.
Speaking at a New York Film Festival press conference, the Star Wars actor explained: "You can really feel how dangerous they are obviously, versus a contemporary Ferrari.
"The goal was to get thrown from the car because that was considered more safe than to be locked in this moving coffin.”
The Ferrari film director Michael Mann then weighed in, adding: "The idea was you’d rather be thrown from the car than dragged by the car, so that’s why they didn’t wear seatbelts."
In regards to how they've made the film as true-to-life as possible, it turns out that Mann is friends with Ferrari's son Piero Ferrari - and has been for 25 years.
Mann asked his friend an array of questions; from ones about his mother and the family's house in the countryside, to what his father's personality was like.
Apparently, Ferrari never shaved himself and always opted to go to a barbers instead.
With this in mind, Mann chose to shoot a scene in the same barber shop the late Italian motor driver went to - which is now ran by the son of Ferrari's original barber.
"Nothing's changed," said Mann.
Ferrari - which received a whopping six-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival - hits cinemas on Christmas Day in the US, and December 29 in the UK.
Topics: Film and TV, Cars, Celebrity
Niamh Shackleton